DENVER – A Denver woman is the one U.S. citizen killed in a nightclub shooting in Mexico early Monday morning, ABC News has confirmed.
Alejandra Villanueva, 18, died in the shooting at the club in Playa del Carmen, which killed at least four others and injured at least 12.
The shooting happened during an electronic music festival, The BPM Festival, that had brought people from across the world to the beach resort.
Organizers for the festival said a lone gunman opened fire at the Blue Parrot club, killing at least three security team members.
Villanueva’s brother, Robert Aaron Martinez, confirmed his sister had died in the shooting.
“She was very lovable. Very artistic. She loved art,” Martinez said, adding that his sister was excited about the trip.
“The night before she left she was at my house, and we were having dinner and we were talking about how she was going to come back and she was going to tell me about her trip and everything she did over there," her brother said. "I didn’t know it was going to be the last time I would see her.”
Villanueva's friend called her family from the resort town worried because she couldn’t find Villanueva after the shooting.
After their worst fears were confirmed, Villanueva’s family has a new worry.
“She was the one that lived with my mom and three younger brothers. She was working to sustain that house,” said Martinez.
A GoFundMe page Martinez started said Villanueva was in college and working, and that she helped provide for her ill mother and younger siblings.
“If there’s any way that anybody can help us, we’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to bring my sister back. We just want to say the last goodbye and see her for the last time,” said Martinez.
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