Officials: Mayor killed in Mexico; gang links suspected

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in central Mexico say a mayor and two companions have been shot to death, and they say the mayor likely had links to a criminal gang.

The chief prosecutor of Mexico state says Mayor Juan Antonio Mayen of the town of Jilotzingo was killed on a highway by an armed group traveling in a pickup truck.

Prosecutor Alejandro Gomez says two other people were killed and another two were wounded in the attack on a pair of cars carrying Mayen, other local officials and bodyguards.

He said over 100 spent shell casings had been recovered at the scene of Friday's attack in a rural area of Mexico state, west of Mexico City.

Assistant prosecutor Martin Marin Colin said there is evidence that Mayen was linked to local gang whose leader had also been killed recently.

"At this point we cannot rule out any line of investigation, including his (Mayen's) probable link to illicit activities," Marin Colin said. "Given the manner of the events and some evidence in case files, the mayor can be linked to a criminal gang that operated in the area, whose leader was apparently killed a couple of months ago."

At least 48 mayors have been killed since Mexico's drug war began in 2006. Few have been openly linked to criminal gangs, but many are believed to have been killed by drug cartels because they refused the gangs' demands for money or obedience.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-04-23

I left Mexico in 2009 due to the violence and killings and came to Thailand.