Coahuila state congressional candidate Fernando Puron, 43, was posing for a selfie with a female supporter after a debate with an opponent on Friday, when a man crept up behind him and shot him in the back of the head at close range. The female fan posing next to him was not hurt.
Puron, the former mayor of Piedras Negras, vowed to crack down on violent crime and talked about how he would handle public security in his home state if elected.
Mexican newspaper Vanguardia reports, Puron said, “We have to face crime head on. We cannot be afraid. We must call it by its name.”
His shocking death became the 112th candidate or politician to be killed since the beginning of Mexico's electoral campaign in September, according to Etellekt's study on political violence across Mexico.
Murder is nothing new to the country as violence continues to soar. There were roughly 29,000 homicides recorded last year in Mexico, more than the last two decades. President Enrique Pena Nieto has been under heavy criticism for failing to plight drug-related crime throughout his tenure.
“(Politicians) can only protect themselves to a certain point,” Mexican publisher Esteban Illades told The Guardian. “Violence is so widespread and so vicious that it doesn’t matter how many bodyguards you have.”
Police still have not identified the gunman or a motive for the assassination.
Watch the surveillance footage below.