Seven people died after a highway shootout in a drug plagued region of Mexico caused a car crash, and there is a Bakersfield connection.
It happened Friday in Jalisco, the west central state described in Mexican media as a battle ground between drug cartels. Investigators said gunmen in one vehicle opened fire Friday on a pickup truck escorted by two men on motorcycles.
That pickup is the Bakersfield connection. It bore California license plates with Jim Burke Ford license plate frames. There was no immediate word from California authorities on the truck's owners.
Local media reported that when the truck tried to get away from the gunfire, it struck another vehicle, sending it plunging into a ravine.
Four people inside that vehicle died, along with the truck driver and a driver of one of the motorcycles. Another unidentified person was shot and killed in the crossfire.
Police recovered several weapons at the scene including grenades.
