Mexico mayor shot dead one day after taking office

TEMIXCO, Mexico (Web Desk) – On Friday, New Year’s Day, Gisela Mota was sworn in as the new mayor of Temixco, a small Mexican town in the state of Morelos.

On Sunday, with flag’s flying at half mast, state’s governor Graco Ramirez promised to bring Mota’s killers to justice.

Just a day after Mota was inaugurated, she was shot in her home by a group of masked gunmen, the UPI reported.

Gisela Mota, new mayor of Temixco takes her oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony in Temixco, south of Mexico City on January 1, 2016. Mota, the newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on January 2, 2016, according to a tweet from Morelos state Governor Graco Ramirez. Gisela Mota formally took office with the new year on Friday. Mexico City newspaper EL Universal said she was attacked at her home by four armed gunmen. Picture taken January 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE.

Mota’s bodyguards and police chased the assailants. The pursuit quickly turned into a gun battle. Two men were killed and the rest detained.

Javier Perez Duron, Morelos’ attorney general, has confirmed that three suspected attackers were in custody and being questioned.

Governor Ramirez blamed Mota’s death on organised crime, though he did not specify which gang or cartel was responsible.

Mexican authorities said the arrested suspects had been paid $29,000 by Los Rojos drug gang to kill Mota.

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Mota, a member of the left-leaning Democratic Revolutionary Party, campaigned on the promise to rid Temixco of the violence of the drug trade and the corrupt police and politicians who perpetuate and profit from it.

Nearly 100 elected officials in Mexico have been murdered by drug cartels over the last decade. Thousands more civilians have perished.

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