The former governor of Mexico’s troubled western state of Jalisco was shot dead on Friday, marking the latest of a series of violent attacks in a country already plagued by drug-related gangs.
Aristoteles Sandoval was killed in an attack at 1.40am (07:40 GMT) in a restaurant’s toilet in the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, according to the state attorney general, Gerardo Octavio Solis.
The killer waited until Sandoval left a table he was sharing with three other people, before shooting him several times in the back.
Solis said that although only one gunman fired at Sandoval, he may have been accompanied by as many as nine accomplices who waited outside the restaurant.
This 2012 photo shows Aristoteles Sandoval, the future governor of Jalisco, Mexico, in Guadalajara, Mexico, ahead of a meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. (Image via Courthouse News)
MEXICO CITY (AFP) The former governor of western Jalisco state one of the most violent in Mexico was murdered on Friday, the regional government said.
Aristoteles Sandoval was “the victim of an attack” in the popular tourist destination Puerto Vallarta, the Jalisco government said on Twitter.
“I’m very sorry about the murder of the former Jalisco governor … It’s a matter that will be investigated to discover the cause, the motive and to punish the perpetrators,” said Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
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Ex-governor Of Cartel-ravaged Mexican State Gunned Down In Beach Resort
The former governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco was shot dead early on Friday in a restaurant bathroom in the beach town of Puerto Vallarta, one of the most high profile political killings since Mexico embarked on its War on Drugs in 2006.
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MEXICO CITY:The former governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco was shot dead early on Friday in a restaurant bathroom in the beach town of Puerto Vallarta, one of the most high profile political killings since Mexico embarked on its “War on Drugs” in 2006.
MEXICO CITY (REUTERS) - The former governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco was shot dead early on Friday (Dec 18) in a restaurant bathroom in the beach town of Puerto Vallarta, one of the most high-profile political killings since Mexico embarked on its War on Drugs in 2006.
Jalisco state officials said Mr Aristoteles Sandoval was shot in the back by an unidentified assailant while his security detail were outside. A shoot-out erupted as his bodyguards began moving Sandoval to hospital.
Mexico is struggling to tame raging violence across the country, with Jalisco one of the epicentres of internecine cartel warfare that last year drove murders to an all-time high with 34,670 homicides recorded.