Unidentified official treated at hospital after shooting on Friday night in Guadalajara that prompted FBI to offer $20,000 reward for information

A US consular official was shot in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Friday night, prompting the FBI to offer a $20,000 reward for information that leads to identifying the suspect.

On Saturday morning, Mexico’s federal attorney general’s office said in a statement that it was working with the US embassy “to find the those responsible for this unfortunate event”. It added that sate and federal authorities had been assigned to protect the victim, who is in a stable condition.

A consulate spokesperson told the Guardian: “We are working closely with Mexican law enforcement in this matter. The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the identification of the shooter. Due to privacy considerations we have no additional information to share at this time.”

Guadalajara’s El Informador newspaper reported that the victim, not named in the report or by the consulate, was being treated at a local hospital for a gunshot wound in the upper chest.

CCTV footage released by the consulate showed a well-built, light-skinned man in gym clothes paying at a machine for a parking ticket at 6.16pm. He was immediately followed by a man in a purple T-shirt.

A second video shows the man in purple loitering by the car park exit before pulling out a pistol, firing once and running away.

“The FBI offers a reward of $20,000 for information that leads to the identification of the subject who shot a United States consular official today in Guadalajara,” the consulate said in a statement.

“Please call the United States embassy in Mexico City if you recognise him at (01-55)5080-2000.”

A source within the Guadalajara police force, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to publicly discuss the case, said the victim was 31-year-old Christoper Nolan Ashcraft. The source said authorities found Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) credentials in his name and that he was driving a black Honda Fit when he was shot as he left the city’s Plaza Sania mall.

A LinkedIn profile for Christopher Ashcraft identifies him as a foreign service officer at the US Department of State stationed in Guadalajara since June 2015. The profile features a photo that closely resembles the man in the video, but the US consulate declined to comment about the victim’s identity or position.

The police source said he suspected the shooter was a professional killer. “That’s not an easy shot,” he said. “He was probably aiming for the head but he missed as he leaned over to put his ticket in the machine.”

The case echoes the murder of the DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who was abducted outside the US consulate in Guadalajara in February 1985. Camarena was tortured for days at a nearby safe house and his body was found alongside that of his pilot Alfredo Zavala in a remote rural area the next month.

That killing exacerbated tensions between the US and Mexican governments and sparked the biggest investigation in the history of the DEA. The campaign led to the breakup of the Guadalajara cartel, Mexico’s dominant drug trafficking organisation at the time.

The US state department has issued a travel warning to Americans for Jalisco, the western state where Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, is located. Citing “continued instability”, the department prohibits government officials from “intercity travel after hours” and from using certain highways or stopping in specific towns.