Authorities in Mexico say a small town's mayor has been shot dead in the west-central state of Jalisco.

Jalisco prosecutors say in a statement that municipal police in Jilotlan de los Dolores received a report Sunday morning of a body in a car on a highway outside the town.

At the scene they found town mayor Juan Carlos Andrade Magana dead with multiple gunshot wounds.

The prosecutor's office says Andrade's killing is under investigation.

National newspaper El Universal reports that he was running for re-election with the Citizens' Movement party. Mexico has national elections July 1.

Jilotlan is in southern Jalisco near the border with Michoacan state, a region that is home to significant drug cartel activity.