Two Mexican activists, María del Carmen Morales, 43, and her son Jaime Daniel Ramírez Morales, 26, were tragically killed in Jalisco on Wednesday, according to Mexican authorities and the advocacy group they were affiliated with.

The mother and son were known for their work in helping locate missing persons across Mexico. Morales was a prominent member of Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, a group dedicated to finding individuals who have vanished amid the ongoing violence linked to organized crime.

In March, the group gained national attention after uncovering a horrific “extermination camp” at Izaguirre ranch, which was believed to be a secret operation center for criminal organizations. The ranch contained hidden crematoriums and buried human remains. Although local authorities have yet to confirm the site’s connection to organized crime groups, the group labeled it as such, stating that victims were lured there and held captive.

The tragic deaths occurred late on the night of April 23, when two gunmen on a motorcycle targeted Jaime Daniel Ramírez Morales. In a desperate attempt to protect her son, María del Carmen Morales was also injured. Both mother and son later succumbed to their injuries.

The Jalisco Attorney’s Office confirmed the incident, although the victims were not named in their statement. Warrior Searchers of Jalisco confirmed the identities of the deceased. Morales' other son, Ernesto Julián Ramírez Morales, has been missing since February 24, 2024, in the municipality of Las Villas de Tlajomulco.

President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her condolences at a morning briefing on Friday, calling for a thorough investigation into the deaths. She emphasized that there should be no assumption that their killings were unrelated to their activist work, urging the Undersecretary for Human Rights to offer assistance to the Morales family.

This latest tragedy is the second such attack in Jalisco within the past month. On April 2, Teresa González, another activist searching for her missing brother, succumbed to injuries sustained from a gunshot wound after an attempted kidnapping. González had been actively investigating the disappearance of her sibling in Guadalajara, a city that has seen a significant rise in disappearances in recent years.

The killings underscore the ongoing dangers faced by activists and families in Mexico seeking justice for missing loved ones amid escalating violence linked to criminal cartels.