Francisco Alejandro Leyva Aguilar, a journalist and former director of Oaxaca’s state broadcaster, was shot dead on Wednesday morning while eating at a street-food stall in San Pablo Etla, a municipality on the outskirts of Oaxaca city. According to local authorities, two assailants on a motorcycle approached him and opened fire without warning, striking him with at least three 9mm rounds to the neck and head. A woman at the scene was also wounded and taken for medical treatment.

Leyva, who once headed the Corporación Oaxaqueña de Radio y Televisión (CORTV), was known for his combative digital column “El Zumbido del Moscardón”, in which he regularly criticised the state government of Governor Salomón Jara. The governor himself acknowledged the victim as “a journalist critical of our government” and said no political difference could justify violence. The state prosecutor, Bernardo Rodríguez Alamilla, confirmed that one person had been detained but cautioned that it was not yet established whether the individual was linked to the killing. Investigators were tracing the motorcycle’s route using footage from the C5 surveillance system and private cameras.

No official motive has been determined. The prosecutor said all lines of inquiry remain open, including Leyva’s journalistic work. Press freedom groups noted that the columnist had previously reported judicial harassment and, just two days before his death, had published a video accusing a senator from the ruling Morena party of involvement in fuel theft and land dispossession. Authorities have not confirmed any connection between those allegations and the murder. The federal security cabinet pledged support, and the specialised prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression (FEADLE) will join the investigation.

Leyva’s killing is the seventh murder of a journalist in Mexico this year, according to a tally by Reporters Without Borders. The country has long been considered the most dangerous in the Americas for the press, with more than 150 journalists killed since 2000. The Alianza de Medios MX, a national media coalition, demanded an exhaustive and transparent investigation, while Article 19 called for the probe to treat his journalism as a central line of inquiry. The state prosecutor said the investigation was in its early stages and that the full truth would be pursued.