Forensics examine car where Ecuador’s youngest mayor Brigitte Garcia and aide shot dead

A young mayor and one of her collaborators were murdered in Ecuador early Sunday morning (24 March), police confirmed, adding to a wave of violence in the country and amid a state of emergency decreed by the government.

Brigitte Garcia, 27, mayor of the coastal city of San Vicente in Manabi province, was killed along with her collaborator Jairo Loor.

Loor was the communications director of the municipality of San Vicente, the police confirmed.

According to the police report, Garcia and Loor were found inside a vehicle without vital signs and with gunshot wounds.

Forensic units collected the evidence inside the vehicle and the motives of the crime are being investigated.