Relatives carry the coffin that contain the remains of a young girl named Camila, in Taxco, Mexico, on March 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

An angry mob lynched a woman suspected of murdering an eight-year-old girl in a popular tourist city in southern Mexico that has been plagued by organized crime.

Residents on March 28 blocked one of the main streets of Taxco after the child’s body was found on a highway.

The Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said that it was treating the girl’s death as a suspected femicide and the lynching as a qualified homicide.

The girl’s family had received anonymous telephone calls demanding a ransom after she disappeared on March 27, Mexican media reported, quoting a relative.

Earlier, security camera footage had circulated showing the suspects allegedly putting a black bag in the trunk of a car, prompting suspicions that it contained the girl’s body.

A mob gathered outside a house where a woman and two men were located, demanding justice.

In the absence of arrest warrants, the crowd dragged out the suspects and beat them with sticks.

The woman died and the two men were hospitalized in Taxco, which is known for its colonial buildings and silver jewelry workshops.

Worsening crime in Taxco led the United States in January to ban its government employees from visiting the city, located about 170 kilometers (105 miles) from Mexico City.

Kidnappings and murders are daily occurrences in Mexico, although adult men are the most common victims, making the young girl’s death particularly shocking.

There are regular lynchings of alleged criminals, which experts link to the widespread perception of impunity in the crime-wracked country.