Police involved in deadly nightclub raid suspended

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Police involved in a raid that sparked a fatal stampede at a nightclub in northern Mexico City on Friday have been suspended, and an investigation into the incident is under way, officials said Saturday.

Twelve people -- including three police officers -- were fatally trampled, and many others were injured Friday night, said Joel Ortega, secretary of public security.

Police went to the News Divine club in the capital's Nueva Atzacoalco district after hearing that drugs and alcohol were being sold to minors there. The legal age for drinking is 18.

Among the dead were a 13-year-old girl, a 16-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy and three 18-year-old boys.

Witnesses said officers blocked the club's exit, The Associated Press reported.

Police did say the club's sole emergency exit was blocked, leaving the main entrance the only way out. Some customers said they tried to break windows to escape.

Mexico City's mayor, Marcelo Ebard, said that there "were serious errors" in the police operation and that those at fault would be held accountable, according to a report in The Universal newspaper. But he also said the club's operators "acted with evident irresponsibility and outside the law."

"The city is in mourning," he said.

Neither Ebard nor Ortega said how many officials had been suspended.

Thirty-nine people were arrested during the raid, including the owner of the club, who is accused of instigating the stampede by announcing the raid on a microphone inside the club. He was also accused of not having enough emergency exits.

Some witnesses said police used tear gas, prompting the stampede inside. Ortega denied those reports.

Officials said that more than 500 people were inside the club when police arrived and dozens more were waiting to gain entrance.

CNN Correspondent Rey Rodriguez and Krupskaia Alis contributed to this story.

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