( CNN ) A former mayor is a `` probable '' suspect in the disappearance of 43 students who were kidnapped last month from Iguala , a small city in Guerrero state , Mexican authorities said . Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam said Wednesday his office has issued arrest warrants for former Iguala Mayor José Luis Abarca ; his wife , Maria de los Ángeles Pineda Villa ; and the city 's former public safety director , Felipe Flores Velásquez . Murillo said they are considered `` probable masterminds '' of events that occurred in Iguala on September 26 . According to the attorney general , on that day , a group of students from a teachers college in the nearby town of Ayotzinapa were on their way to stage a protest in Iguala . When the former mayor and his wife learned the protest would disrupt an event led by the mayor 's wife , they gave orders to their public safety director to send police forces to prevent the students from protesting . `` The order to confront those people came from the police department 's command center , straight from A-5 , code name used to identify the Iguala mayor , '' Murillo said . The attorney general also said his office learned this information from interrogations of police officers and gang members detained in the last month who were allegedly involved in the incident . Police officers blocked the highway leading into the city and shot at the students as they arrived in buses and a van . One student was killed . Footage from the scene shows a white van left in the middle of the road with its windows blown out and the doors wide open . The students , Murillo said , were subsequently taken away by police officers , who handed them over to a local criminal gang known as Guerreros Unidos ( United Warriors ) , which had infiltrated not only the police department but was also complicit with Mayor Abarca , his wife and the public safety director . All three disappeared the day after the clashes between police and the students . It has been almost a month since the incident and the students are still missing . Fifty-three people , including 36 officers and 17 suspected gang members , have been detained . No one was available for comment at the Iguala Police Department . The Mexican federal police and army have taken over the department and assumed all security responsibilities . Twenty-eight bodies were found in mass graves in the state of Guerrero , but DNA tests showed there were no missing students among those victims . Mexico was shocked this week by the revelations of a Roman Catholic priest and well-known activist who works with migrants and trafficking victims . The Rev . Alejandro Solalinde said the students were forced to walk to a remote location and then shot . `` Some who were wounded but still alive , with others who were already dead -- one , two , we do n't know how many -- were put on top of firewood and set on fire with diesel , '' Solalinde said . He said he has given his information to prosecutors . The case has become a political crisis , with opposition lawmakers asking President Enrique Peña Nieto to dissolve the entire Guerrero state government and take charge . Peña Nieto has said his government will not spare any efforts until the students are found and justice is done . `` Violence , whatever its origin , goes against what we are as a country . Violence will never be a solution or pave the way towards a better future , '' the President said . Mexican authorities are offering a reward of nearly $ 5 million for information leading to finding the students and solving the case . Online , international students are also demanding answers . A video posted on YouTube shows young people from different countries `` demanding justice for the 43 Mexican students who went missing on September 26 , '' in multiple languages .
43 students intending to study in Chicago disappeared on September 26 . Police say former mayor and his wife are responsible for the disappearance . Activist ##s says the students were shot , not burned .