by Allan Wall, Mexico News Report, ©2026
(Jun. 3, 2026) — I had just posted my previous article entitled State Department Publishes Updated Mexico Travel Advisory Just in Time for World Cup when I saw an article about an American getting killed in Mexico.
The headline read American tourist killed in Los Cabos shootout with military. This is misleading because it gives the impression that the tourist was having a shootout with the military.
But here’s what the article says: “A California man died after being shot during a clash between Mexican soldiers and armed assailants in San José del Cabo.” That gives a whole different impression, doesn’t it?
It also says that “Four civilians and two soldiers were wounded, including a 14-year-old boy and a 65-year-old woman with serious injuries.”
Los Cabos is located in the peninsula of Baja California, in the state of Baja California Sur.
The Los Cabos municipality include the cities of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas.
Here is a report on the story from the Ackerman Group: “A 31-year-old man from California was killed just after midnight on Sunday [May 31] after being caught in the crossfire between soldiers and cartel gunmen in the popular beach resort city of San Jose del Cabo at the southernmost end of the northwestern state of Baja California Sur.”
“The shootout erupted after a military patrol observed a group of heavily armed gunmen in several vehicles on the La Paz-San Jose del Cabo highway (Federal Highway 1) in the Las Veredas neighborhood in northern San Jose del Cabo. Las Veredas is a lower-income residential area located on the opposite side of the highway from Los Cabos International Airport.”
“Two soldiers and five other bystanders were also wounded in the gunfire.”
“The American was transported to a local hospital where he died a few hours later.”
“It would appear the American and the five wounded bystanders were traveling on the highway and became inadvertently caught up in the shootout. The gunmen managed to flee the scene.”
“The authorities seized four long guns, two tactical vests, a radio and over a dozen metallic tire spikes, which are routinely used by fleeing cartel operatives to prevent pursuit by military and police.”
In the State Department’s Mexico Travel Advisory, subject of my previous article, Baja California Sur is listed as a Level 2 state, meaning “Exercise increased caution“.
I extend my condolences to the family of the deceased Californian.
In my profession, that of an eminent psychiatrist specializing in treating combat-related PTSD and that of a best-selling author, not to mention my screenwriting credits, one of which was for the blockbuster, ‘Dandelion War,’ I have treated suicidal patients, if not on a daily encounter, surely on a weekly one.
That said, one of the stranger ways, although popular, to do oneself in, is that by ‘Suicide by Cop,’ a method that every American tourist embraces when they take a step south of the border. It may not be a conscious thought, but it’s in there somewhere crying to get out, if not by shouts and screams then by whimper: what difference does it make? Same result.
You can read such phrases as ‘caught in crossfire’ and ‘wrong place at the wrong time,’ but that fails to explain why an American deliberately stepped off the reservation. It would be like a sociate from Hinsdale taking a stroll down South State Street on a Saturday night in Chicago with a full moon.
See? The pieces don’t fit. It would be like expecting a Muslim to follow our laws and act civilized, which will never happen because the outcome has been predetermined by 1,400 years of pure evil; reference what they pulled off on Oct. 7.
No, any American killed in Mexico is, well, let’s just say, ‘unfortunate’ and let it go at that.
Professor Zorkophsky
In my profession, that of an eminent psychiatrist specializing in treating combat related PTSD, and that of a best-selling author, not to mention my screenwriting credits, one of which was for the blockbuster, ‘Dandelion War,’ I have treated suicidal patients, if not on a daily encounter, surely on a weekly one.
That said, one of the stranger ways, although popular, to do oneself in, is that by ‘Suicide by Cop,’ a method that every American tourist embraces when they take a step south of the border. It may not be a conscience thought, but it’s in there somewhere crying to get out, if not by shouts and screams then by whimper: what difference does it make? Same result.
You can read such phrases as ‘caught in crossfire’ and ‘wrong place at the wrong time,’ but that fails to explain why an American deliberately stepped off the reservation. It be like a sociate from Hinsdale taking a stroll down South State Street on a Saturday night in Chicago with a full moon.
See? The pieces don’t fit. It be like expecting a Muslim to follow our laws and acting civilized, it’ll never happen because the outcome has been redetermined by 1,400 years of pure evil, reference what they pulled-off on Oct. 7.
No, any American killed in Mexico is, well, let’s just say, ‘unfortunate’ and let it go at that.
Professor Zorkophsky