Scott Hunyadi is a Prince George man who was on holiday with his partner, Tim Morris at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Resort when a deadly shooting that claimed the life of two took place yesterday (Thursday) afternoon.
Police reports say 15 people stormed the beach in front of the hotel and the neighboring resort, which are located about 25 km south of Cancun, to assassinate two men and reclaim drug trafficking territory.
Morris says the two were out boating when the shooting took place and when they returned to the hotel, it was complete chaos.
“We were being bussed back, and we all got texted that there was an active shooter. So we were like what the hell is going on and I’m texting my friends that are here and they said they were barricaded in a room and hiding behind curtains,” he explained.
It was then Morris and Hunyadi became aware that the incident involved the Mexican cartel as a result of rival gang activity.
“They ran right onto the property, and they were shot right outside of our good friends’ room, both dead and there were guns spraying all over, one of the guests got shot and was taken to the hospital so there were two men dead and massive injuries because it was like a Tsunami of people that ran into the hotel as the gunfire started spraying,” Morris explained.
Terrified hotel guests and staff then barricaded themselves into the conference room and chained up tables attempting to protect themselves.
“When we got there the staff was traumatized as much as the clientele, and so my friend that was hiding behind the curtains, he was in tears and he was like ‘we were so close to being shot, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through’. But we saw staff taking care of by other staff because they were traumatized as well, yet they had to go back to work,” he said.
During this time, he watched as everyone comforted each other, and saw one woman staff member burst into tears.
Fortunately, Hunyadi and Morris were able to stay in another hotel for the rest of their visit, as they will be returning to Prince George tomorrow (Saturday).
“We did leave last night, because there was a sea of people, everybody had to be escorted back to their rooms, and they were to remain in their room locked down because police and military wanted to make sure everyone was safe.”
Hunyadi’s close friend, Patrick Pierre from Palm Springs, California was in the hotel when the shooting took place, and the gunman actually looked at a friend of his and said something before shooting his second victim.
“I was trying to get into lunch, but it was closed and I was trying to figure out what was going on and shaking the door trying to see what was happening, because I’m trying to get my grub on, but the door was barricaded so I was quickly taken inside and I was trying to figure out what was happening,” Pierre explained.
Pierre and a large group of other guests and staff were huddled in the hotel upstairs for about an hour, during this time many people were sending text messages to loved ones, as they weren’t sure if they were going to make it out alive.
“It easily could’ve been two of us (guests) dead on the beach, and for that matter, 20 or 50 of us being shipped home in aluminum caskets. The fear and terror on everyone’s face, in the dark room I was huddled in, was real,” he explained.
Pierre adds everyone on the resort was traumatized, and after the place was declared safe by local authorities, around 4:30 that afternoon, guests were escorted off the property while police continued their investigation.