A mayor in Mexico was shot dead in a plaza in front of dozens of people that had gathered for the Day of the Dead festivities, authorities said.
Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, the mayor of the Uruapan municipality of Mexico’s western state of Michoacán, was gunned down Saturday night within the town’s historic centre. Manzo Rodríguez, 40, was rushed to a hospital, where he later died, according to state prosecutor Carlos Torres Piña.
A city council member and a bodyguard were also injured within the attack on Saturday.
The one that shot Manzo Rodríguez was killed on the scene, Federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said during a news conference on Sunday.
Manzo Rodríguez was shot seven times by an unidentified man, García Harfuch said. The weapon used was linked to 2 armed clashes between rival criminal groups operating within the region, he added.
“No line of investigation is being ruled out to make clear this cowardly act that took the lifetime of the mayor,” García Harfuch said.
“We send our deepest condolences to his family, family members and the residents of Uruapan, who today are experiencing a painful and unjust loss by the hands of organized crime,” García Harfuch added. “There might be no impunity.”
Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, the state’s governor, said that Manzo Rodríguez’s assailant was working with two other suspects, who’ve been arrested.
It’s not clear what number of more people were believed to have been involved with the shooting. The motive can be not known right now.
The attack on Manzo Rodríguez, a former Morena legislator, was captured on video and shared on social media. The footage shows dozens of residents and tourists, some in costume and with painted faces, having fun with the Day of the Dead event surrounded by a whole lot of lit candles, marigold flowers and skull decorations. Then several gunshots rang out, and other people might be seen running for canopy.
In one other video, an individual is reportedly shown lying on the bottom as an official performs CPR while armed cops guard the world.
Manzo Rodríguez is the seventh mayor to be killed in Michoacán since 2022, the Recent York Times reports.
On Sunday, a whole lot of Uruapan residents took to the town’s streets to accompany the funeral procession and say goodbye to the slain mayor.
People gather to honour late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot and killed during Day of the Dead celebrations in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2025.
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
People carry the coffin of late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot and killed during Day of the Dead celebrations, in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, on Sunday.
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
At the pinnacle of the procession, a person led Manzo Rodríguez’s black horse with one in all the mayor’s signature hats placed on the saddle. A bunch of musicians, also wearing black, followed and played mariachi songs.
A hat worn by late Mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez, who was shot during Day of the dead celebrations, sits on his horse at his funeral in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2025.
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to X on Sunday to sentence the “vile assassination” of Manzo Rodríguez.
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“I express my deepest condolences to his family and family members, in addition to to the people of Uruapan, for this irreparable loss,” she wrote. “From the moment this grave event became known, I spoke with the governor of Michoacán and the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, who has maintained constant communication with the state attorney general.”
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, a former ambassador to Mexico, said that his thoughts are with the family and friends of Manzo Rodríguez.
“The US stands able to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on either side of the border,” he said. “Here’s Carlos holding his young son on the celebration just moments before the attack. May his soul rest in peace and should his memory encourage prompt and effective motion.”
Michoacán is one in all Mexico’s most violent states and is a battleground amongst various cartels and criminal groups fighting for control of territory, drug distribution routes and other illicit activities.
In recent months, Manzo Rodríguez had publicly appealed to Sheinbaum on social media for assist in confronting the cartels and criminal groups. He had accused Michoacán’s pro-government governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, and the state police of corruption.
Manzo Rodríguez had been under protection since December 2024, three months after taking office. His security was reinforced last May with municipal police and 14 National Guard officers, García Harfuch said, without specifying what prompted the measure.
Manzo Rodríguez was often seen wearing a bulletproof vest and expressed fears for his own safety.
“I don’t wish to be just one other mayor on the list of those executed, those whose lives have been taken from them,” Manzo Rodríguez said in an interview in September with journalist Joaquin Lopez-Doriga.
“What number of mayors have they killed because they opposed making these pacts with organized crime?” he asked in one other September interview with Mexico’s Milenio TV.
— With files from The Associated Press
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