A location scout for the Netflix series Narcos was found dead in Mexico on Sunday, according to El País.
Carlos Muñoz Portal, 37, was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds in his car on a dirt road near San Bartolo Actopan on September 11. The paper reports that he’d been in the area on assignment taking photos for the show.
Netflix issued a statement on Muñoz’s apparent murder:
“We are aware of the passing of Carlos Muñoz Portal, a well-respected location scout, and send our condolences to his family. The facts surrounding his death are still unknown as authorities continue to investigate.
According to Variety, the region in which Muñoz was found has one of the highest murder rates in Mexico, with 182 homicides reported in July alone. Local reports say authorities are having a difficult time collecting details on the death, since, as a spokesman for Mexico’s attorney general confirmed, they have no witnesses.
A friend of Muñoz suggested that perhaps seeing an unfamiliar person with a camera frightened the locals in light of the region’s insecurity, telling El País: “Maybe they thought he was collecting information and they started tracking him in a car.”
As of now, it’s not clear whether production for the show’s forthcoming fourth season will take place in Mexico, or move back to Colombia where it started. The new season reportedly focuses on the origins of Mexico’s Juarez cartel, following a similar plot sequence to season 3, which tracked on the rise and fall of Colombia’s notorious Cali cartel.
Muñoz previously worked on films like Man on Fire, Apocalypto and the fourth Fast & Furious.