Mexican actress Tania Mendoza shot dead while waiting to pick up 11-year-old son from Football Academy

A Mexican actress and singer, Tania Mendoza was shot dead while she waited to pick up her 11-year-old son from a football academy in the state of Morelos.

Tania Mendoza was outside the sporting complex in the city of Cuernavaca with other parents when two armed men arrived on a motorbike on Tuesday, December 14.

One of the men shot her multiple times before escaping with his accomplice.

Mexico has a very high crime rate and in recent years, femicide, or the intentional murder of women because of their gender has been on the rise.

At least 10 women were murdered in the country every day last year, according to official data.

Human rights group Amnesty International said around a third of victims – 940 – were cases of femicide.

Mendoza, who was 42, rose to fame in 2005 after a lead role in the film La Mera Reyna del Sur. She had also appeared in a number of soap operas but in recent years was dedicated to her career as a singer, and recorded five albums.

In 2010, she was kidnapped with her husband and son, who was six months old, from the couple’s car wash business. Since then, she had reported to the Morelos State Attorney General’s Office several death threats.

It is not yet clear who is behind Mendoza’s murder, or any possible motive.