Police officers and rescue workers stand next to the covered body of Leon provincial council chief Isabel Carrasco in Leon on May 12
An assailant shot dead a Spanish ruling party politician in public in the northern city of Leon Monday in an apparent "act of vengeance" against her, officials said, and a woman has been detained over the killing.
Half a dozen police covered the body of Leon provincial council chief Isabel Carrasco with a white sheet at the scene on a pedestrian bridge over the Bernesga River in the university city, media photographs showed.
"She has died. She was shot several times and she died," a Popular Party spokeswoman told AFP after the late-afternoon shooting.
"A woman has been detained by local police and her possible participation is being investigated," a national police spokeswoman told AFP.
Spain's Interior Ministry said the killing did not appear to be politically motivated.
"Everything points to it being a personal act of vengeance unrelated to her public position," a ministry spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other politicians from his Popular Party as well as the opposition Socialist Party cancelled official engagements.
Besides being head of the Leon regional council, Carrasco was also leader of the PP for the Leon province.
"The Popular Party expresses its deepest sorrow and announces the suspension of all acts planned for today," it said in a statement.