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In this May 11, 2016 photo, a roving seashell vendor walks past as a street musician serenades a local couple and marines along with local police patrol the shore of Papagayo Beach, in Acapulco, Mexico. Experts say Acapulco shows the limitations of the governmentâs security strategy. Federal police, almost none of whom are from the city, quickly get lost once they leave the coastal boulevard and ascend into twisting, hillside neighborhoods. Their heavy weapons are ill-suited to urban policing. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__1_]()
In this May 12, 2016 photo, young boys watch from a park as federal police inspect the crime scene where a man was shot in the El Coloso neighborhood of Acapulco, Mexico. Death can strike anywhere in Acapulco these days: A sarong vendor was slain on the beach in January by a gunman who escaped on a Jet Ski. Another man was gunned down while enjoying a beer at a seaside restaurant. In the hillside slums that ring the city, a 15-year-old girlâs body was found chopped into pieces and wrapped in a blanket, her severed head in a bucket nearby with a hand-lettered sign from a drug gang. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__13_]()
In this May 11, 2016 photo, two burnt out Volkswagen Beatle shells, colloquially referred to as "Vochos", sit near an overpass on a road leading to the neighborhoods overlooking Acapulco, Mexico. According to neighbors the cars were set on fire about two years ago, during a shootout. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__12_]()
This May 12, 2016 photo shows a sign advertising a boxing school with a message that reads in Spanish; "Come on up and learn to defend yourself," alongside a road leading to the marginal neighborhoods of Acapulco, Mexico. The upsurge in killings has made Acapulco one of MexicoÃs most violent places, scaring away what international tourism remained and recently prompting the U.S. government to bar its employees from traveling here for any reason. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__11_]()
This May 11, 2016 photo shows the backside of a bus decorated with a provocative mural, in Acapulco, Mexico. Today itÃs almost easier to find a truck full of soldiers, a federal policeman or a gaggle of local tourist cops than it is to find a taxi along the ìcostera,î the seaside boulevard that runs through the hotel zone. Marines patrol the beach, while federal police watch over the breakwaters. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__10_]()
In this April 23, 2016 photo, members of the Lucha Libre wrestling group who call themselves, "Guerreros del Cuadrilatero-Club Soley"or Club Soley Wing Warriors, train for a show on the back patio of a barbershop in the Las Cruces neighborhood of Acapulco, Mexico. Residents of Acapulcoâs slums suffer the worst of the violence despite the high-profile tourist-quarter killings. New police chief Max Saldana said he thinks the gangs âhave retreated up into the âcolonias,ââ or slums, where few tourist dollars ever arrive. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__14_]()
In this May 9, 2016 photo, a Bible quote spray-painted on a bullet-riddled wall reads in Spanish; "And Jesus said; I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies," at a former police outpost where police officers were shot in 2011 on a hill overlooking Acapulco, Mexico. AcapulcoÃs latest wave of killings began April 24, when bursts of gunfire broke out along the coastal boulevard. It was the first time such sustained shooting had been seen there since the darkest days of 2012, when the murder rate in this city of 800,000 hit 146 per 100,000 inhabitants. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__2_]()
In this May 10, 2016 photo, a girl riding a bus puts up her hands as a local policeman conducts a routine search at a checkpoint along the âcostera,â the seaside boulevard that runs through the hotel zone in Acapulco, Mexico. An upsurge in killings has made Acapulco one of Mexicoâs most violent places, scaring away what international tourism remained. In response, Mexico has lined the cityâs coastal boulevard with heavily armed police and soldiers, but successes have been few. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__3_]()
In this May 11, 2016 photo, a taxi drives past the Cuauhtemoc Housing Unit and a municipal sign with a message that reads in Spanish; "Building the new Acapulco" in Acapulco, Mexico. The city's latest wave of killings began April 24, when bursts of gunfire broke out along the coastal boulevard. The murder rate in this city of 800,000 hit 146 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2012. It has since fallen to about 112 per 100,000, but that remains far higher than nationwide levels. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__5_]()
In this May 9, 2016 photo, a cross propped against a bullet-riddled building column marks the area where a policeman and taxi driver were gunned down in 2011, in Acapulco, Mexico. According to the date on the cross, one victim was 74-years-old. An upsurge in killings has made Acapulco one of Mexicoâs most violent places, scaring away what international tourism remained. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__6_]()
In this May 11, 2016 photo, the fence separating the street from the Las Cruces neighborhood cemetery has been ripped open, in Acapulco, Mexico. Violence gripping this once-glamorous resort and its neighborhoods has seen an upsurge in the last months. According to estimates of local press more than 300 murders by gunfire have occurred in the city since the beginning of the year up to date. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__8_]()
In May 10, 2016 photo, the gate of the once popular restaurant "Los Braseros" is emblazoned with a graffiti drawing of a gun, situated on the seaside boulevard, known as " La Costera", that runs through the hotel zone in Acapulco, Mexico. Mexico has lined the cityÃs coastal boulevard with heavily armed police and soldiers, turning Acapulco into a high-profile test case for a security strategy that the government has used elsewhere: When homicides spike, flood the area with troops. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__7_]()
In this May 13, 2016 photo, a fisherman tries to sell his fresh catch to beach goers on Caletilla beach in Acapulco, Mexico. Violence gripping this once-glamorous resort has upsurged in the last months scaring away what international tourism remained. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__15_]()
In this May 10, 2016 photo, a girl stares out a bus window during a routine police checkpoint on the âcostera,â the seaside boulevard that runs through the hotel zone in Acapulco, Mexico. Today itâs almost easier to find a truck full of soldiers, a federal policeman or a gaggle of local tourist cops than it is to find a taxi along the seaside boulevard. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)![Acapulco_under_seige__9_]()
In this May 12, 2016 photo, shards of glass set into mortar serve as a crime prevention device on a wall displaying a directional sign on where to buy tickets at the Plaza de Toros Caletilla bull fighting ring in Acapulco, Mexico. Once the stage for renowned bullfighters the ring has been closed since 2014 due to the violence that has driven international tourism away in last years. (AP Photo/Enric Marti)Police, soldiers swarm Mexico's Acapulco, killings continue
Death can strike anywhere in Acapulco these days: A sarong vendor was slain on the beach in January by a gunman who escaped on a Jet Ski.
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- Police, soldiers swarm Mexico's Acapulco, killings continue
