Mayor assassinated while eating in restaurant

MEXICO CITY — A masked gunman has assassinated the mayor of a town in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero.

The state police office identifies the victim as Arturo Gomez Perez, the mayor of Petatlan.

The office said Friday that the lone gunman hit Gomez Perez with three bullets as he ate at a restaurant in Petatlan.

Guerrero was one of the most violent states in Mexico in the first 11 months of 2017, with a homicide rate of 58.6 per 100,000 people. At least 54 mayors or mayors- elect have been killed in Mexico since 2006, often by drug gangs or corrupt police.

On Thursday, a state legislator was shot to death on a highway in the western state of Jalisco. He was the second politician killed in Jalisco in a week.