2 political candidate fatally shot in restive Mexico states

A candidate for mayor was shot to death in western Mexico and another man running for city council was gunned downed in southern Mexico, bringing to at least three the number of candidates killed in the run-up to the June 7 midterm elections.
All three killings occurred in areas heavily hit by drug cartel violence, but there was no immediate information on the motives in the deaths.
On Thursday, gunmen in a truck opened fire on a campaign rally being held by Enrique Hernandez, a mayoral candidate in Yurecuaro, in the western state of Michoacan.
The state prosecutors' office said the gunfire killed Hernandez on the spot, and wounded three other people. Hernandez was a leader of the town's "self-defense force," one of the vigilante groups that sprang up in 2013 to break the power of the Knights Templar drug cartel in Michoacan.

State prosecutor Jose Martin Godoy said Hernandez had been accused by some of illegal activity. The self-defense forces often detained people or searched properties without warrants. "He is a person who was loved by many, but there were also people who accused him of illegal activities," Godoy told the Milenio television network. Hernandez was running on the ticket of the leftist Morena party.
Yurecuaro is located near the border with Jalisco state, an area where the violent Jalisco New Generation cartel has been expanding its influence, fighting both authorities and rival gangs.