Lawmakers in the lower house of Congress adjourned early today after the assassination in Veracruz of the daughter of a Morena party deputy.

Proceedings were brought to a halt early this afternoon when Carmen Medel Palma suffered a nervous breakdown after receiving a telephone call notifying her that her 22-year-old daughter had been killed while working out at a gym in Ciudad Mendoza.

According to preliminary police reports, Valeria Medel, a medical student, was shot nine times by a lone gunman. Another woman was also killed in the gunfire.

The Morena party’s Veracruz director did not rule out the possibility that the crime was politically motivated.

A session in the Chamber of Deputies came to a stop when the victim’s mother began crying out, “My daughter! My daughter! Valeria! Valeria!”

The session was declared postponed until next Tuesday after several deputies and medical personnel helped Medel Palma leave the chamber.

Morena Deputy Pablo Gómez observed that his colleague’s daughter was a victim of the state of violence in which Mexicans live.

“Today we face the tragedy in a much more direct way, through a member of this assembly. We are all subject to this crisis of violence and all of us, together as a legislature, must respond. We must bring peace to Mexico, and eradicate violence and violent crime.”

Source: El Universal (sp), e-veracruz (sp), El Sol de México (sp)