A Canadian banker has been shot dead while on holiday with his girlfriend after they argued over his bar bill at a popular beach resort, police say.
Victor Masson, from Quebec, had spent all Sunday at the beach with Elva Castillo and stayed at their hotel while she dined with her family in Puerto Escondido on the Pacific coast.
The mortgage adviser decided to go out on his own and ended up at the Michelada El Aldoquin bar where he was said to have argued over an unpaid bill.
He was found shot in the back inside a car about two miles from the bar on Monday morning.
Victor Masson, of Quebec, Canada, was killed Monday while vacationing in Mexico. The 27-year-old had texted his girlfriend, Mexican national Elva Castillo, warning her that a group of people he had met at a local bar in the peaceful town of Puerto Escondido did not want let him go. No arrests were made on Friday
Victor Masson (left) had traveled to Mexico to spend two weeks with his girlfriend, Elva Castillo (right)
Authorities block the street in the town of Puerto Escondido, on Mexico’s Pacific coast, where Canadian tourist Victor Masson was found shot dead in a car early Monday
José Rodríguez, attorney general of the state of Oaxaca, said: “After the fight he makes a few calls saying he was robbed and at dawn he died.”
“The main line (of investigation) of this case is what happened that night.”
In an interview with news outlet Noticiero Televisa, the banker Castillo’s girlfriend said Masson was worried about the two men and women he met at the bar.
He told her, “I have no idea what’s going on. If I text you the word “danger”, find my location and call the police, okay?
Masson would then send him an additional message after the group intercepted him as he attempted to leave the bar and return to the hotel.
“It’s like…I’m stuck with them,” he said. “I tried to leave and they said, ‘No, no, stay’, so that’s weird.”
Castillo said she filed a missing person report after he failed to show up at the hotel and then learned of her murder several hours later.
A spokesperson for Masson’s family said he was on vacation for two weeks and had visited relatives of Castillo, and they were struggling to get information from the police.
Victor Masson (left) with his girlfriend, Elva Castillo (right)
Benjamín Gammond, of Argentina, died on Monday of injuries sustained after being struck in the head at a beach-side restaurant in Oaxaca, Mexico on May 10.
They said the suspected killers stole the mortgage adviser’s wallet but left his phone and passport behind.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Masson worked at Laurentian Bank and had studied at Bishop’s University in Quebec.
Masson’s death came days after Benjamín Gammond, a 23-year-old Argentine national, died of injuries sustained from a machete attack.
The 23-year-old, who has spent the past two years living and working in Mexico’s restaurant industry, was having a meal with two friends, Santiago Lastra, 22, and his girlfriend, Macarena González, 29, at a beachfront restaurant in the town of Laguna de Chacahua when they were hacked by 21-year-old Cruz Martínez on May 12.
Gammond suffered three head injuries and was airlifted to a Mexico City hospital where he died on Monday.
Lastra, who suffered a broken shoulder, and González, who received treatment for an injury and fracture, were released from a local medical facility and are recovering.
