The governor of the central Mexican state of Morelos is blaming the violent death of a newly elected town mayor on a battle between several gangs, all of which are trying to gain control of local security forces.

Gov. Graco Ramírez Garrido Abreu said threats against Gisela Mota had been building up before the 33-year-old Temixco mayor was gunned down on Jan. 2 as members of her family looked on, Univision reported.

"Over the past few weeks, the threats were increasing," Ramírez recalled. "The reason for the attack against Gisela was that she openly supported the installation of a single command (of police forces) and because she belonged to the (leftist) Party of the Democratic Revolution."

The governor noted investigators were able to trace the attackers once they fled the crime scene -- Mota's residence -- where they had fired at the mayor who had taken the oath of office only a day before her assassination.

"It was by observing security camera footage that we were able to locate the attackers, noting that their escape route took them toward a route to Temixco airport, where they encountered police," Ramírez recalled.

The governor said two of the assailants died in the ensuing confrontation with security forces and that one of the deceased was a known gang leader with a criminal record in Guerrero and México states.

"He was a very important hitman for the Los Rojos group," he said, "and that very group was the one that dragged a mutilated body to the offices of the State Police on Dec. 29 in an act of provocation."

Some local groups, however, were speculating that Mota's assassination might also have political motives as the new mayor had close ties to Bishop Sergio Méndez Arceo, an important voice of the leftist Liberation Theology within the Roman Catholic Church, El Diario NY reported.

Further, women's right activist Flor Desiree León Hernández told the publication that Mota's suggestion of female quotas in local assemblies was not well-received universally.

"A patriarchal vision continues to govern (here)," León said, "in which politics and decision-making are seen as a task for men and not for women."