Niko Honarbakhsh wife of a former Drug Enforcement Agent shot dead during Tulum drug cartel crossfire in Mexico. Also shot dead, Belize drug dealer, Shawn Billary. Shooting deaths come amid heightened travel advisory in the region.
Define tragic irony? The wife of a former Drug Enforcement Agency special agent hailing from Los Angeles was shot dead after being caught in crossfire between rival drug cartel members at a luxury Mexican resort over the weekend.
Niko Honarbakhsh, 44, who had no connection to the dispute, was shot dead along with local drug dealer named Shawn Billary, 22, of Belize who was being chased down by gunmen, when a stray bullet hit the traveling American.
Honarbaksh was living in Cancun in Mexico at the time of her death, ABC News reported. The woman’s husband was confirmed as Karl Perman, previously connected to the DEA.
Rival drug gangs battled for control over drug sales to US tourists
Mexican prosecutors denied local reports that Honarbaksh and Billary may have been a couple, saying a photo of the Belizean man showed him with a completely different woman.
Prosecutors said the dead man had cocaine and pills in his possession when he was killed at the Mia Beach club, which is part of the Selina Hotel in Tulum, where Honarbaksh was holidaying and shot dead on Sunday.
The shoot out took place as rival drug gangs battled for control over drug sales in the eastern Mexican city, popular with vacationing Americans.
Belize, shares a border with Mexico on the Caribbean coast. Tulum is located south of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, closer to Belize.
Mexico’s El Universal reports that Billary was being chased by his killers as he sought refuge in the restaurant, where the fatal shots were fired. Two people are now in custody in relation to the shooting, the outlet reported.
Victim was married to chief security officer and former DEA agent
Officials confirmed that Billary was a member of a rival drug gang. He was first named by Belize News Now who reported the man being a native of Belize City.
According to posts on her Instagram page, Honarbaksh, also going as Honar, divided her time between southern California and the Cancun area. She regularly posted photos from luxurious settings, including beach clubs and restaurants.
Her husband and dogs feature regularly in her postings. The couple were married in 2013.
Online records show that she and her husband maintained a home in Beverly Hills. The couple also had ties to Chicago where Honar worked as a real estate agent for a time according to the dailymail.
Immune to another drug shoot-out…
In March 2023, Perman was appointed as chief security officer for GigNet, a real estate company that operates in Mexico and Caribbean.
‘Prior to entering the private sector Mr. Perman served as a law enforcement professional at municipal and federal levels. He also served in roles in military intelligence and military police for the United States Army,’ a press release said at the time.
In 2011, he was named to Security magazine’s Most Influential People in Security.
One witness wrote on TripAdvisor that he was in the restaurant when Billary ran in, followed by another man around 6:40 pm Sunday.
‘Some tourist on vacation with her 2 dogs, mere feet away from us was hit by some of the stray bullets and was killed,’ the man wrote.
He added that Billary was shot once in the back, which slowed him, prompting the gunman to walk over to him and open fire several more times, killing him.
Heightened violence in the region
The witness was criticial of hotel staff.
‘Security at the Mia had no clue what was going on nor did they check on the 2 people shot. It was the other beach guests that did.’
The people that worked there almost acted like it was no big deal, and gave none of us instructions like, get down, get off the beach….. none of them got on their radios calling for the police or backup,’ he wrote.
Another witness wrote that he thought it was fireworks when he heard the bangs, adding that the gunman ran right past him.
That witness said that Honar was preparing to pay her bill when she was hit.
He also said that staff at the hotel waited for several minutes before checking on her.
A third witness, also posting on TripAdvisor, said they were leaving when the commotion kicked off.
Sunday’s shooting deaths come amid heightened drug violence in the region.
The U.S. State Department has warned travelers visiting the Quintana Roo region to ‘exercise increased caution due to crime’ in the area.
Foreign tourists have been killed in the past after getting caught in drug cartel shootouts in the once-tranquil beach resort.
In 2021 in Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German — were killed while eating at a restaurant. They apparently were caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between rival drug dealers.
Last year, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert warning travelers to ‘exercise increased situational awareness’ especially after dark, at Mexico’s Caribbean beach resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
