MEXICO CITY (AP) — A mayoral candidate and five other people were killed when people opened fire at a campaign rally in southern Mexico’s violence-wracked state of Chiapas, officials said.
Prosecutors said a young girl was among six people killed in Thursday’s gunfire, along with mayoral candidate Lucero López Maza. Two people were also injured.
“A confrontation broke out between armed civilians during a political campaign,” prosecutors said in a statement.
It was unclear whether López Maza was the intended target of the attack because shootings in the area have become so common and widespread.
The mass shooting took place at an intersection in the rural town of La Concordia, Chiapas, about 75 miles from the border with Guatemala.
The area near the Guatemalan border is a major drug and migrant smuggling route, and Mexico’s two main drug cartels are fighting for control of the region.
On Tuesday, eleven people were killed in mass shootings in a village in the municipality of Chicomuselo, Chiapas, several dozen kilometers away from La Concordia.
Mexico’s July 2 elections were also marred by violence, with about 20 candidates killed so far in 2024.
