Vacation lockdown: Belleville native sheltered in Puerto Vallarta amid chaos

Cindy and Vahe Gregorian have long considered the vibrant beach town of Puerto Vallarta one of their favorite vacation spots.

“When you envision somewhere that’s fun and tropical, that’s Puerto Vallarta,” said Cindy, a native of Belleville.

But the end of this year’s trip looked and felt different. As the Gregorians took a shuttle to the airport on Sunday, normally well-traveled streets were empty. Plumes of smoke rose from burned vehicles, billowing to the sky alongside palm trees. Yellow police tape roped off streets and other public areas.

The destruction was the result of unrest following the death of drug lord Nemiso Osegura Cervantes, or “El Mencho,” elsewhere in the state of Jalisco. The leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel was killed as Mexican forces attempted to capture him, The Associated Press reported.

For a while, accurate information was hard to come by, Cindy said. From brief talk around the resort earlier that morning, she had a vague idea of what was going on. The Gregorians considered trying to book another night, but Vahe, a sports columnist for The Kansas City Star, was set to go to spring training this week. They decided to take the shuttle to the airport.

“If we had known better, we would’ve stayed at the hotel,” Cindy said.

They saw a bus and another vehicle burned out, and had heard that gang members were setting Oxxo convenience stores on fire.

“It was like a ghost town,” she said.

Gregorian noted she saw a relatively small portion of the damage, as they stayed in a part of Puerto Vallarta that’s closer to the airport. Pictures her sister sent her, published by national news outlets — such as cars burned in a Costco parking lot — looked more “devastating.”

They learned their Sunday flight was canceled at the airport. At one point, hundreds of people went running through the airport. Not knowing what was going on, the Gregorians started running, luggage in tow.

“I thought, ‘I guess we need to be scared, too,’” Cindy said.

The crowd ended up on the tarmac. There was not a single commercial plane there, Gregorian said. Eventually, everyone went back inside, she said, where they were instructed to shelter in place.

Cindy said she still doesn’t know exactly what started the earlier frenzied evacuation, but one witness interviewed by USA Today said an alarm went off. It’s her understanding that people may have been scared when armed guards showed up and that sparked the panic, she said.

The Gregorians spent Sunday night at the airport. Cindy said she listened to a few podcasts and helped out another stranded family by pushing their baby around in a stroller. It’s how she stayed calm, she said.

They hoped to get a flight back to their home in Kansas City Monday. They’re now scheduled to fly home Friday.

Cindy said they got lucky Monday and secured a taxi to a different resort where they’ll stay in the meantime. The streets were still desolate, she said, but life at the resort appeared normal. People milled about in the lobby and families splashed in the pool.

For now, she isn’t sure if she’ll return to Puerto Vallarta. She hopes so, but the couple needs to see how things settle.

“We’ve always felt very comfortable and very safe — and everyone who comes here says the same thing,” Cindy said.

This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 6:00 AM.