Ex-governor shot dead at Pacific Coast resort in Mexico

The former governor of west Mexico's Jalisco state, Aristoteles Sandoval, was shot and killed in a pre-dawn attack Friday at the beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, reported Xinhua, quoting authorities.

The assailant shot Sandoval in the back around 1:40 a.m. local time, as the former governor entered the bathroom of a restaurant situated on a main avenue, the attorney general of Jalisco, Gerardo Octavio Solis, said in a video message.

Sandoval, who governed Jalisco from 2013 to 2018, was in Puerto Vallarta with his family. From 10 p.m. local time on Thursday, he was chatting at the restaurant with two men and a woman, Solis said.

"The former governor gets up from the table where he was with the rest of the diners, goes to the bathroom and in the bathroom is where he is attacked from behind by an individual ... with a firearm," said Solis.

Outside the restaurant there was an exchange of shots "related to the same event," added Solis, without providing further details.

The current governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, said via Twitter that he instructed his security cabinet to go to Puerto Vallarta to lead the investigation into the crime.

Sandoval, 46, became governor after serving as mayor of Guadalajara, the state's capital and Mexico's second-largest city.

The president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, lamented the murder and said the government was willing to collaborate with Jalisco authorities in the investigation.

Jalisco this year ranked fifth among Mexican states with the highest number of homicides, with more than 2,400 deaths between January and November, according to figures from the National Public Security System.

The state has been used as a base by the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, the fastest growing criminal organization in Mexico in recent years.