Marcelo Perez, who was both a prominent Indigenous rights activist and a Catholic priest, was killed by two gunmen after he officiated Sunday church services.

Two gunmen in southern Mexico shot dead a Catholic Priest, who was also an activist for Indigenous peoples and farm laborers, amid a surge in violence in the southern Chiapas region.

Marcelo Perez was killed in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas, as he was returning to his home church after officiating a mass.

According to state prosecutors, the religious leader was shot in his car by two men on a motorcycle.