US couple shot dead while on visit in western Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A U.S. couple was shot dead in the violence-plagued western Mexican state of Michoacan, state prosecutors said on Thursday, just after the country's president had wrapped up a meeting with security officials aimed at addressing a wave of violence.

Identified as Gloria A., 50, and Rafael C., 53, the couple was traveling in a pickup in the municipality of Angamacutiro when they were shot on Wednesday night, the attorney general's office in Michoacan said in a statement.

While the woman died at the scene, the man died shortly afterwards of his wounds in the hospital, the statement added. It was not clear why the couple, who were married, had been targeted and investigations are ongoing.

A spokeswoman added that the woman, who had obtained U.S. citizenship, and the man, who was born in the U.S. to Mexican parents, had family and a home in Angamacutiro.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October, has promised to replicate nationally the success she had as mayor of Mexico City in bringing down the sprawling capital's murder rate.

But her first two months in office have been marked by an outbreak of cartel violence in several hot spots.

(Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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