A lone gunman shot and killed a Coahuila candidate for federal Congress last night in Piedras Negras.

Fernando Purón Johnston, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and former mayor of the border municipality, was killed outside an auditorium at the Autonomous University of Coahuila after participating in a political forum.

Surveillance video captured the killer as he approached his victim from behind, pulled out a handgun and shot him twice at point-blank range, once in the head, before fleeing.

Purón died en route to the hospital.

Governor Miguel Riquelme told a press conference after the shooting that the involvement of organized crime was not being ruled out. He described Purón as a mayor who “fought against insecurity.”

The governor said someone at the scene of the murder attempted to follow the killer, who fired another shot before leaving in a vehicle.

Purón was mayor of Piedras Negras from January 2014 until last December when he took a leave of absence to run as a federal deputy. He married this year and leaves his wife and baby daughter.

Source: Vanguardia (sp)