Forensic Evidence Confirms 17-Year-Old Assassinated Mexican Mayor During Public Event

The mayor was shot dead during a Day of the Dead event in Mexico on November 2

Forensic investigators have definitively identified a 17-year-old boy as the shooter responsible for the assassination of Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan, Mexico. The fatal shooting occurred during a public Day of the Dead celebration in Michoacan state, according to an official statement released Thursday by the state prosecutor's office.

The teenager, Victor Manuel Ubaldo, was killed by security personnel who responded to the attack on Mayor Manzo. Ubaldo's family members formally identified his remains on Wednesday.

Authorities from the Michoacan state prosecutor's office indicated that multiple suspects were involved in the coordinated attack.

"It is important to emphasize that the forensic tests conducted on Victor Manuel's body, particularly the sodium rhodizonate test, yielded positive results, confirming our hypothesis regarding material authorship," stated prosecutor Carlos Torres during a press briefing. Torres further suggested that the assassination likely had connections to organized crime operations.

Torres revealed that additional testing indicated the young perpetrator was a regular methamphetamine user. He also noted that Ubaldo's family confirmed he had left home approximately one week prior to carrying out the attack.

Security experts interviewed by Reuters explained that criminal organizations across Mexico are increasingly recruiting, training, and deploying minors from disadvantaged and violent backgrounds to execute criminal activities.

A government analysis on cartel recruitment tactics published last year revealed children as young as six years old have been incorporated into organized crime networks, with criminal groups strategically using video games and social media platforms to target vulnerable youths.

Human rights organizations estimate that approximately 200,000 children in Mexico face vulnerability to recruitment by criminal organizations due to their social circumstances.