A journalist was shot dead in the early hours of Sunday in the Mexican city of Iguala, local authorities said. Pablo Morrugares, a journalist with the news website PM Noticias, had gone to dine at an Iguala restaurant in the company of a police bodyguard when unidentified assailants opened fire on them after midnight, Guerrero state prosecutors said.
The news organisation published Morrugares’ death on their Facebook page. The human rights commission of Guerrero published the news on its social media page, too. Iguala has long been one of Mexico's most violent states.
The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear. However, according to local media, shortly before he was killed, Morrugares had reported on a crime close to a nearby supermarket that involved a turf battle between criminal gangs.
Morrugares, who was killed along with his bodyguard, had survived a previous assassination attempt in 2016.
According to Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit group dedicated to protecting freedom of information, three other journalists had been killed in Mexico this year. As per the World Press Freedom Index 2020, Mexico ranked 143rd of the 180 countries on the list.
More than 100 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2000.
