The International Press Institute (IPI) today urged Guatemalan authorities to conduct a swift and comprehensive investigation into the killing of journalist Luis Alberto Lemus Ruano, who was shot dead on Sunday, April 7 in Jalpatagua in the Guatemalan district of Jutiapa.

Lemus was vice president of the Association of Journalists of Jalpatagua (APJ), director of Radio Stereo Café, and owner of Café TV. He was also a three-time governor of the Juatiapa district, according to Siglo 21, a leading Guatemalan news site.

According to the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, an unidentified person approached Lemus in a pharmacy owned by the journalist, pretending to buy medicine only to open fire at close range, hitting Lemus and one of his employees. The gunmen escaped via a getaway car waiting outside the pharmacy. Lemus was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival. The motive for the killing remains unknown.

“We are greatly concerned at the increase in the frequency of attacks against journalists in Guatemala,” IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills said.

“We call on the Guatemalan authorities to ensure that journalists can work without fear of reprisal and we urge a comprehensive investigation into the recent killing; the possibility that Luis Alberto Lemus was targeted because of his reporting should not be dismissed out of hand.”

Just last month IPI reported on the death of Jaime Napoleón Jarquín Duarte, who was also shot dead by two unidentified assassins.

Also in March, Sofía Menchú, who reports for the Guatemalan daily El Periódico, received threats after she reported on ties between a prison inmate and the prison’s director.