(Bloomberg) -- The alleged killer of a mayoral candidate in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas has been captured, Mexican officials said Sunday.  

Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal, backed by other state security officials, said in a video post on Facebook that a man had been detained following the Friday murder of Noe Ramos, who was running for reelection as mayor in the town of Mante. Villarreal said officials had waited until Sunday to inform the public to ensure the case against the suspect was solid. 

Another mayoral candidate was found dead on Friday in the southern state of Oaxaca. Mexico’s current election, its biggest ever with over 20,000 positions up for grabs on June 2, has been estimated to be the most violent in the country’s modern history by Mexico City-based Integralia Consultores.

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Information from more than 20 eyewitnesses, as well as video cameras in the area of Ramos’s killing, allowed a group of local police and federal troops to capture the suspect, Tamaulipas state prosecutor Irving Barrios said in the video. 

Some 300 military and national guard troops were deployed this weekend to Mante after a plea from local officials to provide security in the town, Milenio TV reported. Hundreds of mourners spilled out of a church into the surrounding plaza on Sunday as they gathered for the funeral of Ramos, who was seeking a second term as mayor, Milenio TV reported.

Ramos, who was running for the opposition coalition, was stabbed at a campaign event on Friday. Ramos had stepped down from his post to seek a second term, as required under Mexican electoral law. 

He had not been provided with a protection detail by the ruling party state government, despite requests, daily Reforma reported on its website. 

(Updates with information of the suspect’s capture.)

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