Horror moment mayor is gunned down at ‘Day of the Dead’ festival in Mexico after calling for crackdown on violent crime

THIS is the moment a Mexican mayor was gunned down in front of terrified families during a Day of the Dead celebration.

Chilling footage from the scene shows crowds clutching candles outside a church when gunfire erupted.

Screams pierced the night as dozens of people ran for cover.

Moments later, Carlos Manzo, who had vowed to crush local drug gangs, was seen lying bleeding on the cobblestones.

The 45-year-old mayor was shot shortly after 8pm on Saturday, according to state attorney general Carlos Torres Piña, and later died in hospital.

Manzo had been attending a candlelight ceremony with his wife and young son when assassins opened fire.

The killing happened just steps from a church in the heart of Uruapan, Mexico’s second-largest city in the state of Michoacán.

Authorities said in a statement: “Two people involved in the incident were arrested, and one of the assailants had lost his life.”

A 9-millimeter handgun was recovered from the scene.

Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla confirmed the mayor’s death, while federal security officials said the motive remained unclear.

Manzo had long warned that his life was in danger.

In recent months, he posted videos urging President Claudia Sheinbaum to send more troops and resources to his city, accusing her government of turning a blind eye to cartel violence.

He had once been a member of Sheinbaum’s Morena party but broke ranks last year to run as an independent, pushing for what he called a “real war” on organized crime.

“We can’t wait for them to come for us,” he declared in a June video, wearing a bulletproof vest while patrolling with local police.

Michoacán has become one of Mexico’s bloodiest battlegrounds, with powerful cartels fighting for control of drug routes and extortion rackets.

Just days before Manzo’s death, local farmer leader Bernardo Bravo was also shot dead.

Bravo was another outspoken critic of cartel violence.

The killing has triggered outrage across Mexico, where residents plan nationwide protests on November 15 demanding justice for Manzo and action against the cartels.

His death marks yet another assassination in a grim wave of political violence sweeping the country.

Just last month, gunmen shot and killed the mayor of Pisaflores in central Mexico.

In June, attackers burst into a mayor’s office in the south, killing her and one of her aides.

And the very next day, another mayor and her husband were slain in the country’s western region.