A journalist who also worked as a taxi driver has been shot dead in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, according to the human rights group Article 19. He is the ninth journalist killed in the country this year.
The victim was Hamurabi Huesca Manzano, owner of the news site Pinotepa Comunica. According to a state prosecutor's report, he was killed on Friday after an armed group opened fire on him and two other people.
The prosecutor's office said one line of investigation suggests a dispute between local criminal groups, and that the intended target of the shooting was a man known as "El Dario".
El Dario, notorious for inciting violence along the Oaxaca coast, was wounded in the shooting and died at a hospital a few hours later. According to the prosecutor's office, Huesca Manzano was working as a taxi driver and was waiting to take El Dario to another location when he was shot dead.
The prosecutor's office said the attackers had been "fully identified" but did not name them or say whether Huesca Manzano's journalism played any role in the case.
Local news reports also gave differing accounts of where the attack took place; some sources said Huesca Manzano was shot at his home and that a woman was also wounded.
Article 19 condemned the killing and wrote on X: "We ask the prosecutor's office to make his journalistic work a priority in the investigation."
According to local media, the mayor of San Miguel Tlacamama, Antonio Olmedo Mendoza, confirmed Manzano's death and offered condolences in a statement.
"With deep sorrow, I grieve profoundly over the passing of Hamurabi Sinclair Huesca Manzano," he said, expressing his sympathy for the victim's family, friends and colleagues.
Mexico is known as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the press, with more than 150 media workers killed since 1994, according to Reporters Without Borders.
