Authorities on Friday arrested seven bodyguards as investigations continued into the assassination earlier this month of a popular mayor in west-central Mexico who they were supposed to be protecting.

The Associated Press saw at least five of the suspects arrested by state and federal authorities in Uruapan on Friday, steps away from the site where Mayor Carlos Manzo was killed during Day of the Dead festivities on November 1.

Later, the Michoacán state prosecutor's office said in a brief statement that seven public officials, who it did not identify, were arrested for "their likely participation in aggravated homicide.”

An official familiar with the operation said all seven had been bodyguards for Manzo.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Soldiers, National Guard troops and state agents led the suspects out of a city building Friday beside the central plaza where a teenage gunman had shot Manzo.

Attention had immediately turned toward Manzo's large security detail that had failed to stop the lone gunman and suspicion only grew when it appeared that the gunman had been shot dead by members of the security detail after they had him on the ground.

On Wednesday, Mexican authorities announced the arrest of a man on suspicion of involvement in the planning and ordering the killing.

They connected the plot to the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the organized crime groups operating in Michoacán.

Manzo's wife was sworn in as Uruapan's mayor following his killing.

AP video shot by: Fernanda Pesce