Two gunmen were shot to death by the security detail for the Nayarit state governor’s wife while she was in the neighboring western state of Jalisco, Mexican officials said Wednesday.
The Nayarit state government said via Twitter that María Luisa Aguirre de Echevarría was at a fast-food restaurant in a shopping center in Zapopan outside Guadalajara when assailants entered and began shooting at another customer.
The government said the apparent target had no ties to the first lady. Her bodyguards fired at the gunmen, killing two of them. Aguirre was unharmed. Local media reported that her two children were with her.
Jalisco state Gov. Enrique Alfaro said via Twitter that six people were wounded, including one of the bodyguards, and the case was being investigated by the state prosecutor’s office.
The state prosecutor’s office said in a statement that guns were found with both of dead men. It said preliminary accounts suggest the shooting was the result of a dispute among criminal groups that were at the restaurant.
Jalisco is home to the hyper violent Jalisco New Generation cartel.