MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – On a Tuesday morning along a busy Mexico City avenue last month, a secretary to the city’s mayor pulled her black Audi SUV up to a metro station to pick up a colleague.

Their killer was waiting for them.

The assassin shot the political staffers at point-blank range through the windshield, and then through the driver’s window, before breaking into a sprint and disappearing into the city’s morning bustle, CCTV video of the attack seen by Reuters shows.

The murders of Ximena Guzman, a secretary to Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada, and Jose Munoz, the mayor’s adviser, immediately sent shockwaves through Mexico City’s political and business elite. Not only was this kind of targeted political violence unusual in Mexico City, many of them believed the murders were a clear message to Ms. Brugada from organized crime groups to give them free rein.

With around 30,000 homicides a year, Mexico has one of the highest murder rates in the world behind Myanmar, Honduras, and Jamaica according to a 2023 report by the UN. But the violence is almost entirely in areas outside the capital: All but one of the 37 candidates for local and federal office killed in the run-up to national elections last year were outside Mexico City. Experts have pointed to powerful drug cartels as the perpetrators.

Reuters spoke to five business people who referred to the murders as shocking and terrifying, but declined to be named for fear of putting themselves at risk. One bank executive said he already uses an armored vehicle and didn’t expect to boost security measures further.

Not since the dramatic assassination attempt in 2020 of Mexico City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch—now Mexico’s Security Minister—has the capital seen what at least two experts said is a blatant effort to intimidate its political leaders. The killings have, at least momentarily, pierced the city’s reputation as a safe haven from the country’s widespread political violence.

There is much at stake for the capital. Mexico City is the country’s beating heart: A business, political and tourist hub vital to both the functioning of Latin America’s second-largest economy and its global image. Any sense the city is no longer safe could deal a devastating blow to its image, especially as Mexico co-hosts the 2026 soccer World Cup alongside Canada and the United States.

The Mexico City attorney general’s office has not released findings from its ongoing investigation into the crime or identified a suspect.

But three security analysts told Reuters the public nature of the attack and its high-profile targets point to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal groups in Mexico and labeled by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

The killings showed signs of meticulous preparation, said David Saucedo, a security expert in Mexico City who advises state governments and companies on security issues. He noted they occurred during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference, where she touted arrests and the confiscation of weapons from criminal groups across several states.

“They did it with the objective of dismantling Claudia Sheinbaum’s narrative,” Mr. Saucedo said. “If you want to make a big media splash, you do it in the capital.”

Mexico City’s government and the presidency did not respond to requests for comment. After the killings, Ms. Brugada promised the crime would not go unpunished and that her government would continue its fight against violent crime.

Mexico City police said the case is being investigated with “the same rigor that every homicide in the city is investigated with.”

Tourist Hotspot

Mexico City in recent years has become a tourist hotspot, with over a million tourists landing at the capital’s airport between January and March this year, following only Cancun as the country’s airport with the heaviest traffic. Safety has been vital to the city’s renaissance as an attractive destination for business and tourism.

Between 2019 and 2023, when Ms. Sheinbaum was the city’s mayor, homicides in the city plummeted by roughly half, according to federal government data—a record she campaigned on in her successful bid for the presidency.

Still, the presence of drug cartels in Mexico City remains beneath the surface. Business owners say it is common for organized crime groups to force nightclubs to allow them to sell drugs in their bathrooms, while some restaurants are told to make extortion payments to operate.

Some of the city’s wealthier residents have been taking more precautions in recent months, said Fernando Ortega, from Blindaje Diamante, an armored car shop in Mexico City, noting a rise in sales of armored cars this year.

“There is a market that might not have the budget for a full armoring, but wants to feel protected,” Mr. Ortega said.

Security analysts say Ms. Brugada now faces a dilemma—she cannot let the crime go unpunished but a hardline response risks retaliatory attacks in the city from criminal groups. That mirrors the broader security challenge in the country, especially as U.S. President Donald Trump demands a stronger response to organized crime in Mexico.

“Mexico is stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego, who studies security issues in Mexico.