Councilwoman and daughter shot, husband killed in Mexico near U.S. border

Attackers shot dead the husband of a Mexican councilwoman, with the gunfire also injuring the politician and her daughter, authorities reported Wednesday.

Maria de Jesus Quijada, a ruling party councilor for the municipality of Tecate along the United States border, was shot at while traveling in a vehicle with her family on Tuesday afternoon.

Quijada’s partner did not survive, while she and her daughter — who is 15 according to media reports — were being treated at a hospital in the U.S., Mexico’s security secretariat said.

According to Mexico News Daily, the couple’s daughter was reportedly on her way to a school graduation with her parents

Quijada’s father later told reporters he had been informed that his daughter and granddaughter were “out of danger.”

“There will be no impunity,” the ministry stated in a news release, without offering any details about the attack’s possible motives.

The secretariat is coordinating with local authorities to investigate the incident, it added.

Authorities have so far discovered a burnt-out car matching a previous description of the perpetrators’ vehicle less than two miles away from where the attack occurred.

The day before the attack, Quijada posted on social media that she was visiting a local community, saying she “had the opportunity to spend time with neighbors, listen to their concerns, share ideas and strengthen that bond that allows us to work with greater commitment.”

Criminal gangs often conduct attacks against local officials in Mexico, especially in areas where cartels fight for territory, such as on the U.S. border.

Since the current government took office in October 2024, 13 mayors have been murdered in Mexico, Uno TV reported this week. Last November, gunmen shot dead a Mexican mayor who had urged the government to tackle violent crime.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that homicides in Mexico have fallen by nearly half since September 2024, touting the reduction as a result of her security policies since taking office in October 2024.

Mexico has been battered by years of spiraling violence since the government launched an offensive against drug gangs in 2006.

Almost half a million deaths have been reported since then, as well as 130,000 disappearances, according to government reporting.