Incredible but true. Zayda Peña, 28, a grupera singer known for her anti-narco lyrics was shot on Saturday while in a hotel room in Matamoros, Mexico, where she was staying with a friend. The friend, as well as the hotel manager, died of gunshot wounds at the scene.

Zayda was still alive when she was rushed to the hospital minutes later, and might have been out of danger until the unthinkable happened: the assailants, fearing she had survived the attack, brazenly walked into the operating room and fired at Zayda, killing her, then fled the scene.

While police say it could be a “crime of passion” (it seems a popular motive among Mexican police when women or gay men are involved), many are citing narcos as the perpetrators of the shooting. El Diario de Yucatan points out that over the past 12 months a dozen grupera performers have been victims of violence supposedly linked to narcotraficantes.

Via / TV Azteca and El Diario de Yucatan