A United States citizen killed Thursday morning in Ixtapa, Guerrero, has been identified as a tourist who was visiting from Imperial Beach, California.

Douglas Bradley, 49, was on a Christmas vacation when he was shot and killed at about 4:00am in the city’s hotel zone.

Bradley was the finance director at the city of Imperial Beach and a popular person, according to the city’s mayor.

“Doug Bradley was loved by all that knew him,” Serge Dedina said in a statement. “He was always positive, loved to surf, and had helped to turn around the city of Imperial Beach’s financial management as well as restructure city administration to make it more efficient and resident friendly.”

Witnesses were quoted yesterday saying Bradley (who was identified in earlier reports as Bradley Douglas) was being chased by armed gunmen before he was killed. His body remained in a parking lot for four hours before police arrived at the scene, reported the newspaper El Sur.

Just a few hours earlier, a gunman killed the mayor of Petatlán, located less than an hour south of Ixtapa.

Violence in the region is fueled by territorial fights by criminal gangs engaged in drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.

Two cases of the latter surfaced last week when an entertainment promoter canceled appearances by comedians at the hotel Krystal Ixtapa. One of the comedians said gangsters had demanded 50,000 pesos (about US $2,500) to allow the acts to proceed.

Source: NBC San Diego (en)