Mexican mayoral candidate executed at campaign event days after ruling ... trends now
A mayoral candidate was gunned down at a campaign event in north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato just hours after she had requested security protection.
Gisela Gaytán was walking on a street Monday afternoon, the second day of her campaign for mayor of Celaya, when gunmen approached her on two motorcycles and opened fire before fleeing.
Footage captured by a bystander showed at least two wounded men on the street pavement and Gaytán lying face down in a pool of blood. Another woman, who appeared to have been shot, was found sitting on the floor of a store.
A spokesperson with the Guanajuato Attorney General's Office told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that no arrests had been made.
Hours before the shooting, Gaytán announced on Facebook he had met with business owners of a local market to declare that changes were on the way for Celaya, which ranked as the world's most dangerous city in 2023 with 109.4 homicides per every 100,000 residents.
'Together, with determination and commitment, we will make the change we long for a reality,' she said. 'We want a Celaya where each person has the opportunity to prosper, we want transformation.'
Gisela Gaytán became the latest public office candidate murdered in Mexico ahead of the June elections when she was executed on a street while campaigning in the city of Celaya on Monday
Diego Pérez is one of at least 15 candidates in Mexico who have been killed since the start of 2024. Pérez was running for office in the southern state of Chiapas and was found dead March 14. His wife and son were wounded
Tomás Morales aspired to become the mayor of Chilapa, a municipality in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, and was shot dead in front of his home March 12
Gaytán, who was running under the ruling Morena party, apparently had an uphill battle in a municipality where the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel exerts its control and murdered the son of Mayor Javier Mendoza in August 2022.
Law enforcement sources told Mexican news outlet Milenio that the attack took place in an area of the city influenced by the criminal organization.
Security analyst David Saucedo told the outlet that Gaytán had been threatened in the past by the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel for refusing to align herself with them.
Authorities recovered one of the two motorcycles and were looking into whether the bullet shell casings match others that were recovered from previous criminal incidents.
Adrián Guerrero, a Morena candidate for the Celaya city council, was initially reported dead by Federal Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez on Tuesday, but he was found safely at the state prosecutor's office in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende.
A forensic technician works at a scene where Celaya's mayor candidate for the ruling party Morena,
