Gunmen Hit Venezuela Grad Party, Kill 8 'Without Mercy'

A college graduation party in Venezuela ended in tragedy after gunmen opened fire, killing eight people. Six of the dead were teenagers, officials say. The attackers "beat (victims) up inside the house and then executed them without mercy ... they didn't leave anyone alive," says a local of the shooting in a town called Caicara del Orinoco, along the Orinoco River. Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, Reuters notes, and President Nicolas Maduro is facing pressure to rein it in. Even the next day, five people were killed in a birthday party shooting in Guarico state, prosecutors say. (More Venezuela stories.)