An arson attack on the El Caballo Blanco bar in the Mexican state of Veracruz left at least 25 people dead. “They closed the emergency exit doors and burned the place,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a news conference Wednesday morning. Veracruz authorities say they are still searching for the attackers. Lopez Obrador suggested authorities may have been in on the violence, which is believed to be associated with gang activity. “This is the most inhuman thing possible,” Lopez Obrador said. “It is regrettable that organized crime acts in this manner. It is more regrettable that there may be collusion with authorities.”

Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that a suspect in the attack had been previously arrested and released. His comment echoed a tweet from Veracruz Gov. Cuitláhuac García, who said “the indications of the deplorable crime in the Coatzacoalcos bar suggest that one of the material authors is Ricardo ‘N’ aka ‘la loca’ who was detained by Veracruz security forces in July of this year and was released in less than 48 hours by the state attorney general.” The attack came almost eight years to the day that the Zetas drug cartel burned a casino in the city of Monterrey, killing 52 people, according to The Washington Post.