Carlos Manzo was holding his son while leading his city through its vibrant Day of the Dead celebrations.
The mayor of Uruapan, within the western Mexican state of Michoacán, was filmed wearing a sombrero wishing everyone a ‘nice evening’ just moments before he was shot on Saturday evening.
Footage captured the moment the candlelit festival became a scene of terror as crowds ran for his or her lives and town’s leader was seen bleeding on the bottom.
The mayor been an outspoken critic of organised crime and was steadily seen wearing a bulletproof vest.
Three suspects were identified, two of which were arrested and the third dead, the safety ministry said.
President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the ‘vile’ attack and called for justice to be served.
She wrote on X: ‘We reaffirm our commitment to deploy all of the State’s efforts to attain peace and security with zero impunity and full justice.’
Mr Manzo had previously called on the federal government to go further to tackle organised crime, while expressing fears for his own personal security.
He asked in an interview in September: ‘What number of mayors haven’t they killed because they opposed making these pacts with organized crime?’
In a tearful address, Mr Manzo’s wife Grecia Quiroz García said he had only ‘dared to talk the reality’.
She said: ‘They didn’t kill the president of Uruapan, they killed the perfect president of Mexico. The just one who dared at all times speak the reality, without fear for his family or for leaving his children orphaned.’
Formerly a member of Sheinbaum’s Morena party, Mr Manzo ran last 12 months as an independent candidate.
His region, Michoacán has a garnered something of a status for bloody crime, with drug barons fighting to manage smuggling routes.
Tensions became frayed on the mayor’s funeral, where mourners heckled Michoacán governor Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla, a member of Sheinbaum’s governing party.
Actor Victor Trujillo said the president needed to ‘look and listen’ to the frustration from extraordinary people.
He wrote on X: ‘Look and listen, Claudia. It’s not the hypocritical conservatives who’re throwing out your governor from Mayor Carlos Manzo’s funeral. It’s good and clever people.
‘Have a look at that mirror. That business of pretending to implant chaos and normalize it tears away any investiture.’
Christopher Landau, the US ambassador to Mexico, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to assist tackle organised crime on each side of the border.
He wrote: ‘On this All Souls’ Day, my thoughts are with the family and friends of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, who was assassinated at a public Day of the Dead celebration last night.
‘The US stands able to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on each side of the border.’
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