U.S. consular official shot in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities are looking for a gunman who shot and wounded a U.S. consular official in the western city of Guadalajara.

Surveillance video of Friday’s attack shows a gunman trailing the American official into a city parking lot, and then firing at him after he got into his vehicle.

The official, whose name was not released, was shot in the chest and is stable, according to a statement from the Mexican attorney general’s office.

Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, is considered largely safe and is not associated with the levels of drug cartel violence that have plagued other parts of the country.

But the U.S. State Department has issued travel warnings for the city and other parts of the state of Jalisco because it borders Michoacan and Zacatecas, states considered to pose security risks.

Although the video of Friday’s attack suggests that the shooter targeted the victim, previous attacks on U.S. officials in Mexico have turned out to be mistakes.

In 2010, a U.S. consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another employee were shot and killed in Juarez as they left a children’s birthday party. The group was riding in a car that was similar to a vehicle belonging to members of a local drug cartel.

A Mexican gang leader was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killings, which he and others claimed were a case of mistaken identity.