California college student shot and killed in Mexico

BERKELEY, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) student is dead after his research took him to a dangerous region near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ph.D. student Gabriel Trujillo was studying a shrub native to the area when his father say he was shot and killed.

The 31-year-old's body was discovered last week in the state of Sonora, in northwest Mexico. The state is a key route for smuggling drugs, migrants, cash and weapons from the south into the U.S.

Local Mexican officials say they are analyzing evidence to "establish the facts, conditions and causes of the death."

They have not provided details about what occurred or ruled Trujillo's death a homicide.