One of a small number of women who have filled a void by becoming police chiefs in violence-torn Mexico has been gunned down

Hermila Garcia, 38, became the top cop in the town of Meoqui only a couple of months ago. Gunmen attacked her as she drove to work by herself, authorities said. Garcia was one of a handful of women who have taken leadership roles in police departments in cities and towns where men have stayed away because of fear. One of the most high-profile women to take such an assignment is 20-year-old Marisol Valles Garcia, a student who became police chief of Praxedis G. Guerrero, also in the state of Chihuahua. Hermila Garcia was a lawyer by profession and was single with no children. Violence in Chihuahua is due to struggles between rival drug cartels over lucrative smuggling routes.