This Article is From Oct 15, 2012

Three women, baby shot dead in Guatemala

Guatemala City: Gunmen killed three women and an eight-month-old baby girl at a house in eastern Guatemala, officials said on Sunday.

The gunmen were drinking beer on Saturday night in a store operated out of the residence when they suddenly "drew their weapons and opened fire in an indiscriminate manner", a fire department spokesman said.

Sandra Linares, 24, and her daughter, Darlin, eight months, were pronounced dead at the scene, while Reina Linares, 22, and Juana Enriquez, 44, died while being treated at a public hospital.

Enriquez was the mother of Linares and the grandmother of the baby, officials said.

Maribel Ramirez Enriquez, 18, was seriously wounded in the shooting.

The incident occurred in a poor neighbourhood in Asuncion Mita, a town in Jutiapa province some 190 km east of the capital.

Investigators still do not have a motive for the shooting, but media reports said the women may have been killed as revenge for supposed acts committed by a man who was related to one of the victims.

The gunmen fled in a taxi that was passing through the neighbourhood.

More than 350 women, according to official figures, have been murdered this year in Guatemala, with the majority of the killings going unpunished.

.