Locals on Sunday mourned the death a Mexican mayor who was shot and killed during Day of the Dead festivities in the western Mexican state of Michoacán.

Family, friends and locals gathered in Uruapan to pay tribute to mayor Carlos Alberto Manzo Rodríguez who was killed the day before, and to demand justice.

Meanwhile, Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch expressed his condolences for the "cowardly attack."

"On behalf of the security cabinet and the government of Mexico, we express our deep regret for this cowardly attack," Harfuch said.

On Saturday night, Manzo Rodríguez was fatally shot despite being under the protection of local police and 14 members of the National Guard.

He was gunned down in front of dozens of people gathered in the city's historic center to enjoy the "Festival of Candles," an event organized by local authorities as part of the Day of the Dead celebrations.

The politician's murder occurred less than five months after the death of Salvador Bastidas, mayor of the Michoacán municipality of Tacámbaro.

Harfuch said at a press conference on Sunday that the attack against the mayor was carried out by an unidentified man who took advantage of the vulnerability of the public event to shoot him seven times with a weapon that, according to investigations, is linked to two armed confrontations between rival criminal groups operating in the region.

The murdered mayor had been under protection since December 2024—three months after taking office—and last May his security detail was reinforced with municipal police personnel and 14 members of the National Guard were assigned to him, García Harfuch said, without specifying the reason for the measure.

In recent months, the mayor of Uruapan had requested help from President Claudia Sheinbaum on social media and denounced the pro-government governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, and the Michoacán police for corruption.

AP video by Martín Silva Rey, Amaranta Marentes and Jordi Lebrija.