Salvador Villalva Flores, a recently elected mayor was shot and killed on Monday, June 17, in southern Mexico, in the state of Guerrero. 

The Mexican Mayor-elect was on a bus when he was fatally shot in the head in the town of San Pedro las Playas, according to the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office. That beach town is nearly two hours up the coast from Copala, where Villalva was elected mayor on June 2.

No additional details on the shooting were provided. Guerrero is home to a number of criminal organisations vying for control of territory.

Local media also reported Villalba had decided to run for mayor after his friend, a candidate, was murdered in June 2023. At least 34 political candidates have been killed across Mexico in the run-up to and aftermath of the June 2 election, according to the human rights organisation Data Civica.