A journalist has been murdered in front of the radio station where he worked in Paraguay.

Humberto Coronel, 33 died after he was gunned down by a man on a motorbike in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, the capital of the Amambay Department in Paraguay.

This occurred just as the journalist arrived at his place of work, a radio station called Radio Amambay, around 1.30pm on Tuesday, 6th September, according to local media reports.

News of the tragic incident has come directly after the death of the town’s mayor, Jose Carlos Acevedo, who was shot dead in front of his office in May.

Acevedo was an open critic of the town’s security forces and owned Radio Amabar before his untimely death.

Pedro Juan Caballero lies on a troubled border that Paraguay shares with Brazil that is a hotspot for drug trafficking and gang-related crimes, while the two murders are a few of many that have reportedly occurred in the violent region in recent times.

Coronel’s brutal assassination took place just three months after the journalist and a colleague named Gustavo Báez Sánchez, 28, received death threats on a banner found outside Coronel’s house, according to the region’s police chief, Ruben Paredes.

Writing on the banner accused the two journalists of “knowing a lot”, according to local news sources.

The gunman, who was dressed in black and travelling on a motorcycle, shot Coronel from behind before fleeing the scene.

Police officers guarding the radio station were reportedly unable to pursue the suspect as they were travelling on foot, according to the police chief.

He added: “We are in the early part of the investigation … it was a single person in black, with a helmet.”

A police officer then found the casings for 9mm calibre pistol at the scene of the crime, according to reports.

Authorities are working to identify Coronel’s gunman through an analysis of security footage along with information related to the journalist’s death threats.