Authorities arrest suspect in deadly bar fire in Mexico border city that killed 11

By Karol Suarez, Marlon Sorto, Philip Wang and Ashley R. Williams, CNN

(CNN) — Authorities in Mexico say they have arrested a man suspected of intentionally setting a bar on fire after being kicked out, killing 11 people near the Arizona border in the Mexican state of Sonora.

The fire broke out at 1:33 a.m. Saturday at a bar in San Luis Rio Colorado, near the United States border city of San Luis, Arizona, according to a statement from the Sonora Attorney General’s Office.

A 17-year-old and a female American citizen were among those killed, Gustavo Rómulo Salas Chávez, Sonora’s attorney general, said in a news conference Saturday.

Mexican authorities were still trying to confirm if the woman who died also had Mexican citizenship, Chávez said.

CNN has reached out to the US Department of State for comment.

The person suspected of starting the fire, who authorities said had “a high degree of intoxication,” threw an object with fire at the drinking establishment’s doors after security staff removed him from the building, according to the statement translated from Spanish.

“According to versions (from) several witnesses, the person with a young, male appearance was disrespecting women in that bar and was expelled,” according to the statement.

The prosecutor’s office described the object thrown at the bar as “a kind of ‘Molotov’ cocktail, which caused the incident.”

The attorney general said Saturday the main suspect is being interrogated.

At least six people were also injured, according to Chávez. One person remains hospitalized, two were discharged and the other three were transferred to US hospitals for treatment.

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