In a deadly show of mob justice, the recently elected Mayor Basilio Juracán of a town in western Guatemala was killed on Sunday by a group of locals, who blamed him for ordering an attack on the previous mayor.

As the BBC reports, the Guatemalan mayor died after being beaten and set on fire in Concepción, a city located 62 miles west of Guatemala City.

After losing the mayoral election to Juracán, Lorenzo Sequec hurled accusations of mismanagement at Juracan and called for an investigation into the city's finances.

On Sunday morning, Sequec and several members of his family were cut off by a car as they drove along a local road. Unidentified gunmen stepped out of the vehicle and proceeded to open fire on Sequec's car.

As the Republica reports, the ex mayor’s 17-year-old daughter Lesbia Noraida Sequec Bocel and his 16-year-old niece Hermelinda Solis Bocel were killed during the attack. Five others, including the ex-mayor, suffered serious injuries.

Soon after the news of the attack spread, furious residents, who suspected the new mayor was behind the ambush, went looking for Juracán. The mob set fire to houses belonging to Juracán's relatives, and eventually succeeded in dragging him out of his home and setting him on fire as well.

Concepción police were too late to help Juracán.

Guatemala, which is considered to be one of the most violent countries in Latin America, is a nation saddled with a serious mistrust of politics.

After a humiliating customs scandal recently led to the resignation and imprisonment of former President Otto Pérez Molina, the county is still waiting for a runoff election to determine their new leader.

The country is, in effect, still emerging from decades of government-related violence. The Guatemalan Civil War, which waged from 1960 to 1996, resulted in the deaths of around 200,000 people.