Zetas cartel claims responsibility for The BPM Festival shooting

A day after the deadly shooting at Blue Parrot during The BPM Festival in Playa Del Carmen in Mexico, Fox News reports that authorities are now investigating the Zetas cartel as the individuals responsible for up to five deaths and 15 injuries.

On Tuesday morning following the shooting, four blankets with the same message written in spray paint appeared around the city, specifically calling out a Canadian co-founder of The BPM Festival. Blankets are a common method of messaging used by gangs across Mexico.

The message reads: "This is a sign that we are already here because you didn’t align...BPM, it is the beginning we are going to cut the heads of Golfos, PELONES and chapulines, Atte [Sincerely] el FAYO Z from the old SCHOOL"

Fayo Z, who signed off on the message, is likely the nickname of Rafael del Angel Velez Morales, the known leader of the Zetas cartel.

The Playa Del Carmen area has known to have been under the control of two separate cartels for several years, split between the Cartel del Golfo and Los Pelones. Thanks to an agreed upon pact, the area has experienced relative gang-related peace in recent history. The Zetas cartel, also known as Los Zetas, operates in the northern region of Quintana Roo, within which Playa Del Carmen resides. It is considered one of the most dangerous, violent and advanced cartels within Mexico by the US government.

The message seems to suggest that prior to the 10th year of The BPM Festival, the Zetas attempted to disrupt the agreement between the Cartel del Golfo and Los Pelones in effort to claim stake in the illegal drug business during the busy incoming tourist season surrounding festival and were denied.

"This is a turf war," an anonymous longtime resident told Fox News. "[The Zetas] tried to charge a fee to the organizers of The BPM Festival and they refused, saying that they had already paid quotas to other organizations."

The shooting, which was ruled out early on as a terrorist-related incident, if linked back to the Zetas by the authorities, was meant to serve as a statement against the festival and other cartels in the area, also ruling out early rumours about the incident being a result of an altercation or a drug sale gone wrong.

Already, Mexican officials have banned The BPM Festival and "these kind of events" from returning to Playa Del Carmen in a statement.