Ecuador's youngest mayor found shot to death, alongside staffer

March 25 (UPI) -- Ecuador's youngest mayor was found shot to death along with her adviser, police said, as the government cracks down on rising gang violence in the South American country.

Brigitte García, 27, was the mayor of the small coastal city San Vicente. She was elected last year as a member of the left-wing Citizen Revolution Party.

García and her communications adviser, Jairo Loor, were found shot to death Sunday inside a rental car, according to Ecuadoran national police.

"Two people were identified inside a vehicle without vital signs, with gunshot wounds," police wrote in a post on X, adding that investigators believe the shots "were not fired from outside the vehicle but from the inside."

Former Ecuador President Rafael Correa expressed his horror Sunday at the news of García's murder.

"My God! Brigitte! She was the youngest mayor of the country!" Correa wrote in a post on X.

"They tell me that they murdered her with her adviser, Jairo. Stop! That's it! If it's so hard for you, I imagine how your families must be. I have no words ..." Correa added. "What did they do to us!"

Last month, the U.S. National Security Council announced funding to help Ecuador deal with armed gangs. The Department of Homeland Security also sent a team to train Ecuador migration officers, while providing digital forensics support to target criminal networks in the country.

In January, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared "an internal armed conflict" across the country, as he designated two dozen gangs as terrorist organizations. The country also declared a state of emergency after notorious gang leader, Adolfo "Fito" Macías, escaped from prison in Guayaquil.

While investigators have not determined who killed García and Loor, Luisa González, a presidential candidate in Ecuador's recent elections, called the mayor's murder an assassination.

"I just found out that our fellow mayor of San Vicente Brigitte García has been murdered," González wrote in a post on X. "I have no words, in shock, no one is safe in Ecuador."