A 25-year-old California resident who shared her globe-trotting experiences on social media was among the two women shot dead when gunmen chasing a drug dealer opened fire as she celebrated her upcoming birthday at a bar in Tulum, Mexico.
Anjali Ryot, of San Jose, was at the La Malquerida bar late Wednesday night when she and 35-year-old Jennifer Henzold, of Germany, were trapped in the middle of a dispute between the assailants and a rival drug dealer.
Ryot was declared dead at the scene by paramedics. Henzold was rushed to an area hospital, where she died.
The shooting also wounded two German males, aged 26 and 25, and a 21-year-old woman from the Netherlands.
Anjali Ryot carved out a huge following on Instagram by sharing her globe-trotting experiences
Anjali Ryot, of San Jose, California, was one of two women killed at a bar in Tulum, Mexico, in an incident sparked by rival drug dealers. The 25-year-old, who was born in India, was visiting the Mexican tourist for her birthday. She would have turned 26 on Friday
Customers at a bar in Tulum give aid to a European man who was wounded after gunmen opened fire on a rival drug dealer on Wednesday night
A native of India, Ryot arrived at the popular Mexican resort town on Monday ahead of her birthday – she would have turned 26 on Friday.
Just hours before the tragic shooting, she took to her Instagram account to share a video of her walking near a platform at the Cielo Maya hotel and resting on a hammock.
Ryot had been working as a senior site reliability engineer with LinkedIn since July. She had previously been employed by Yahoo, where she spent five years working as a site reliability engineer and service engineer.
The German government warned travelers in Tulum and Playa del Carmen not to step out of their hotels and to only use taxi companies based out of the airport or any which were recommended by the hotels while traveling to and from and airport.
According to the travel warning, ‘rental cars have also been robbed there lately and sometimes with the use of gun violence.’
DailyMail.com com reached out to the German embassy in Mexico City for comment.
Anjali Ryot shared the above image Tuesday, a day before she was shot dead while vacationing Tulum
First responders tend to the victims of Wednesday night’s shooting at the La Malquerida bar in Tulum
Prior to vacation in Tulum, Ryot visited Glacier National Park in Montana, where she went hiking on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in late September, an experienced that took her about eight hours to complete and which she urged her more than 40,000 Instagram followers to consider.
‘It is a difficult one as it has a lot of elevation gain, but is so beautiful that you won’t mind the difficulty,’ she wrote. ‘If you visit Glacier National Park, do not miss this hike! The views throughout the hike are astounding, so I would highly recommend it even if you don’t plan doing the entire hike.’
José Antonio Lila Pérez, 25, was arrested after being identified from footage outside the deadly scene, the Quintana Roo State Attorney General’s Office said.
Prior to vacation in Tulum, Ryot visited Glacier National Park in Montana where she went hiking on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in September, an experienced that took her about eight hours to complete and which she urged her more than 40,000 Instagram followers to consider.
Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday issued a travel warning to its citizens who are contemplating visiting the Riviera Maya as well as Tulum and Playa del Carmen.
‘Incidents and attacks, some of which were dramatic, have occurred in recent weeks, which have also affected German travelers, including one fatality. These incidents took place in restaurants, clubs and discos frequented by tourists,’ the notice indicated.
A man sits inside an ambulance after he caught in the middle of a shootout at a Tulum bar and was wounded on Wednesday night in an incident that left two tourists dead and three others injured
Paramedics tend to one of the five tourists who were shot at a bar in Tulum, Mexico, on Wednesday night
‘I strongly condemn the tragic events that occurred last night in Tulum in which two people lost their lives and three others were injured,’ Tulum mayor Marciano Dzul Caamal tweeted on Thursday.
Tulum has experienced a spate of violence since transitioning from a laid-back beach retreat to major international destination. It had long been spared the violence seen sporadically in larger Cancun and Playa del Carmen farther up the coast.
In June, two men were shot to death on the beach in Tulum and a third was wounded.
Anjali Ryot, a San Jose, California, resident had been working as a senior site reliability engineer with LinkedIn since July. She had previously been employed by Yahoo, where she spent five years working as a site reliability engineer and service engineer.
Anjali Ryot was shot dead while dining at a bar in Tulum, Mexico, on Wednesday night. She would have turned 26 on Friday
Screen grab from the last video posted on Instagram by Anjali Ryot shows her posing in Tulum on Wednesday morning before she was shot dead
The administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made a major financial investment in Tulum, where it has announced plans to build an international airport and a stop for the Maya train, which will run in a loop around the Yucatan peninsula.
But Quintana Roo state, where beach resorts like Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located, has been plagued by both violence and corruption.
In 2019, authorities said a dispute over street-level drug dealing was also the apparent motive behind a bar shooting that left seven men dead in the nearby resort of Playa del Carmen.
In a scene similar to the Tulum attack, two gunmen armed with .38 caliber pistols burst into a nightclub in the 2019 attack and opened fire on their rivals.
Several drug cartels operate in the state, which is known for a lucrative retail drug market and as a landing spot for drug shipments.
Two foreign nationals vacationing Tulum were killed after gunmen opened fire against a rival drug dealer Wednesday night at the La Malquerida bar