14-year-old boy dubbed

Mexico City — Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy identified as “El Chapito” in connection with the drug-related killings of eight people near Mexico City, the federal Department of Public Safety said Thursday. The boy allegedly rode a motorcycle and opened fire on a family in the low-income Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan.

Another man was also arrested in connection with the Jan. 22 murder, and seven other members of the gang were arrested on drug charges.

The victims were partying at their home at the time of the attack, in which five adults and two children were also injured. According to reports, it was a birthday party.

The boy’s name has not been released, but his nickname — “Little Chapo” — is a clear reference to the imprisoned drug lord. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. El Chapo has since been serving a life sentence in a “supermax” maximum security prison in Colorado. 2019 sentence on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons offences.

The motive for the killings has not been made public, but drug gangs in Mexico are often involved in kidnappings and contract killings. They also kill drug-dealing rivals on their land, or people who owe them money.

Mexico is no stranger to child killers.

In 2010, troops detained a 14-year-old boy named “El Ponches” who claimed he had been kidnapped at age 11 and forced to work for the Cartel of the South Pacific. Tha, an offshoot of the Beltran Leva gang. He said he had participated in at least four beheadings.

After his arrest, the boy, identified by authorities only by his first name, Edgar, told reporters that he had been drugged and threatened to commit crimes.

Also Thursday, prosecutors in the northern border state of Sonora said they had arrested a woman in connection with nine murders in a Mexican border town.

The state attorney’s office said the woman had outstanding warrants for two murders, but was named in seven other homicide investigations. The office did not say what the possible motives for the deaths could be.