A 21-year-old exchange student has been murdered during a suspected bungled robbery.
Claudia Tacoronte Aguilera was attacked while attending a cultural festival.
After stepping outside for a cigarette, witnesses said a man tried to snatch her phone before she ran away screaming for help.
READ MORE: Hooded thief stops to serve customer in middle of robbery
During the chase, the suspect allegedly stabbed her as she ran.
She burst into a nearby public building but collapsed from her wounds and died before paramedics arrived.
CCTV later showed a man in a white T-shirt and black backpack walking near the scene, vanishing for about a minute, and then sprinting away.
He still remains at large.
The attack happened outside the Casa de la Cultura in Cuautla, Mexico, at about 8.30pm on Saturday (12 Sep).
It happened during the National Festival of Medicinal Plants, where the Granada University student was on an academic exchange at the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM).
According to reports, she was the fourth UAEM-linked student murdered in about seven months.
Claudia, who came from Santa Brígida in Gran Canaria, Spain, had been in the country for about a month and was due home on 20 December.
State prosecutor Fernando Blumenkron said the killing is being treated under femicide protocol, but robbery is the strongest public lead.
Investigators have “not ruled out another motive” and have summoned witnesses, as reported by Need To Know.
Her sister Lara said: “Do we have to normalise that in less than a month three women are murdered at the same university and nobody does anything?”
She added: “Please find that man, because it is not fair that he is out there living his life when he has killed someone.”
Lara also claimed Mexican officials had not called the family to explain what happened, saying: “Absolutely nobody has called my parents. And nobody has called me either.”
Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said: “We want to clarify the facts… so those responsible are brought to justice.”
Mexico’s security cabinet vowed: “We will detain those responsible. Claudia’s death will not go unpunished.”
University of Granada rector Pedro Mercado called it “a day of profound sadness and also of much institutional rage” as her parents began the journey to bring her home.
The investigation into Claudia’s death is ongoing.
READ MORE: Influencer, 34, held over ‘robbery’ as man ‘thrown from SUV’ – and cops seize Barbie baseball bat
