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A view shows part of the scene in which a man threw a Molotov cocktail after being thrown out of a bar for misconduct, leaving several victims, according to Sonora state authorities, in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, July 22, 2023. REUTERS/Victor Medina

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Eleven people died in a suspected arson attack at a bar in the northern Mexican border city of San Luis Río Colorado after an ousted patron set it on fire with a Molotov cocktail, Sonora state authorities said Saturday.

Sonora state prosecutors said preliminary findings showed the suspect was young, male and heavily intoxicated at the time of the attack in the early hours of Saturday, and had been thrown out of the bar for disrespecting the women there.

He then returned and threw some kind of Molotov cocktail at the bar’s doors, according to a statement from prosecutors in the state, which shares a long border with Arizona.

Four of the 11 dead were women and four more people were being treated at hospital for their injuries, they added.

One of the women was a US citizen, probably with dual Mexican nationality, and another victim was just 17 years old, Gustavo Rómulo Salas, the state attorney general, said at a news conference.

Santos González, the city’s mayor, said the suspect, a man, had been detained by police.