The recently elected mayor of a town in southern Mexico has been horrifically killed, just days after taking office, as disturbing images of his severed head have been shared online.

Alexander Arcos, being the mayor of Chilpancingo—a city approximately 170 miles south of Mexico City with a population of about 280,000—was killed on Sunday, only six days after his election. Authorities confirmed the murder by the gruesome images of his decapitated head, which circulated via the messaging app WhatsApp this week.

Chilpancingo serves as the capital of Guerrero, a state plagued by violence, which is known as one of the most dangerous regions for politicians and the press. Merely three days before Arcos’ murder, Francisco Tapia, the newly appointed government secretary of the city, was shot dead. Furthermore, in the lead-up to the June elections, six political candidates in the region were also killed.

The governor of Guerrero, Evelyn Salgado Pineda, pledged to ensure justice for the killers in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. She mentioned that the state’s attorney general had already begun investigating the murder.

“His passing has deeply saddened society in Guerrero and ignited our outrage,” she expressed.

During a funeral ceremony on Monday, friends, family, and residents of Chilpancingo wept as they carried Arcos’ coffin through the streets, according to a report from the Chilpancingo Sun.