11 days after taking office, the mayor of Xoxocotla, Morelos, Benjamin Lopez Palacios, was murdered at his home on Calle 5 de Mayo in the same municipality.
Benjamín López Palacios won an extraordinary election after his brother, Juan José López Palacios, died in June of last year from a heart attack.
Around 3:16 p.m. yesterday an armed attack was reported to the 911 emergency number at the home of the indigenous mayor. Witnesses said that those responsible for the crime were seven people who entered the home and after shooting the mayor fled aboard a vehicle. López Palacios received four bullet wounds that caused his death instantly.
The Morelos State Security Commission indicated that an operation was deployed in the area with elements of the Morelos Police, the 108th Army Infantry Battalion and the National Guard, while the crime scene was preserved for the intervention of the Prosecutor’s Office General of the State of Morelos (FGE).
“I deeply regret the cowardly murder of the mayor of Xoxocotla, Benjamín López. I condemn this heinous crime, we will go to the lengths to bring those responsible to justice, “said Morelos Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo.