Hundreds of armed Mexican vigilantes seize town on a major highway in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. They’ve arrested local police officers and searched homes after one of their leaders was killed.

Some of the vigilantes open fired on a car of Mexican tourists headed to the beach for the Easter weekend.

Members of the self-proclaimed “community police” say more than 1,500 members of the force were stopping traffic Wednesday at improvised checkpoints spread out in the town of Tierra Colorado, which sits on the highway that connects Mexico City to Acapulco.

The vigilantes arrested 12 police and the former head of public security in the town after a leader of the state vigilante movement was slain on Monday.

One tourist heading to the beaching with relatives was slightly wounded after they refused to stop at a roadblock. The vigilantes shot fired at their car, officials said.

The vigilantes who seized the town accused the former security director for taking part in the killing of vigilante leader Guadalupe Quinones Carbajal, 28, for local organized crime groups and dumping his body in a nearby town Monday. They reported seizing several high-powered rifles from his car, and vigilantes were seen carrying a number of sophisticated assault rifles on Wednesday. It’s unclear if all had been taken from the ex-security director’s vehicle.

The spokesperson of the vigilante group, Bruno Placido, said "We have besieged the municipality, because here criminals operate with impunity in broad daylight, in view of municipal authorities. We have detained the director of public security because he is involved with criminals and he knows who killed our commander."

Placido said his group had searched a number of homes in the town and seized drugs from some. They also turned over the ex-security director and police officers to state prosecutors, who in turn agreed to investigate their alleged ties to organized crime.

The group says they are fighting violence, kidnappings and extortions carried out by Mexico’s notorious drug cartels. Concerns, however, have surfaced on vigilante’s behavior, particularly that they maybe violating the law, and human rights of people they capture and detain. They’re even accused of cooperating with criminals in some instances.

Knowledgeable and aware of their lack of ability to effectively enforce public safety in rural areas, many officials have tolerated vigilante groups over the years.