Bride’s dress is splattered with her husband’s blood as he’s gunned down just minutes after they married in Mexico
Antonio Rosales Contreras, 32, was gunned down minutes after tying the knot
Harrowing images have emerged of the moment an hysterical newlywed bride was led away from the scene of her husband’s murder in Mexico with her white wedding dress soaked in his blood.
Antonio Rosales Contreras, 32, a computer systems engineer who married his lawyer fiancee in her home city of Caborca in Sonora, was gunned down mere feet away from their wedding guests on Saturday just minutes after tying the knot.
Medics descended on the scene, administering CPR and loading the stricken Contreras into an ambulance.
But he died on his way to the hospital as a result of his injuries, according to local media reports.
The devastated bride was seen being dragged away from her husband’s motionless body by a wedding guest, her dove-white dress soaked with deep red patches having been dragged through her husband’s blood pooling on the floor.
The victim’s sister, Michele Adriana, 23, was also shot in the back in the attack, but is said to be recovering from her injuries.
The governor of Sonora, Alfonso Durazo, stated that the incident may have been a ‘direct attack’, arguing that local residents should therefore not be alarmed.
He added: ‘The first lines of investigation suggest that it was an attack specifically directed against the person who unfortunately lost his life.’
The Sonora governor was then accused of playing down the levels of violence in a region plagued by insecurities in a number of online comments after he allegedly described the incident as a one-off attack and was quoted as stating that there was no need for public ‘psychosis’ by Mexican journalist Michelle Rivera.
But on Sunday night, state officials announced that no line of investigation had been ruled out.
The Sonora Attorney General’s Office said that although Contreras’ murder was likely a ‘direct attack’, it is believed the bullets may have been intended for someone else, making the slaughter a tragic case of mistaken identity.
‘Investigations indicate that the attack was directed towards another individual who was also getting married at the same time in a different nearby city,’ the statement read.
Another man was reportedly shot at his wedding in a neighboring city on the same night, according to local media, underscoring the escalating violence in the region.