Ecuador. Photo: © Sjankauskas | Dreamstime.com
Eight people died on Sunday, after armed men opened the fire in front of a nightclub in a locality in the southwest of Ecuador, the police said, according to AFP.
The attackers arrived on the spot in two vans and opened the fire on a group of people who consumed alcohol on the street, in front of the entrance to the nightclub, around the local time 01:15, in the Canton of Santa Lucía, in the province of Guayas, notes News.ro.
Police found “several injured and seven corpses” upon arrival, said police colonel Javier Chango. An eighth person died at a local hospital, he added. The victims include a man identified as Jorge Urquizo, the brother of the mayor of this locality with 38,000 inhabitants and the owner of the nightclub.
The police found nearly 80 9 mm cartridges and automatic weapons on the spot. After the attack, the armed men returned to their vehicles and fled.
In the area, the authorities arrested a person armed with a revolver moving in a truck, but could not determine if this man participated in the attack. The police have not yet established the reasons for the massacre.
The City Hall of Santa Lucía declared mourning on Sunday. “We unite in sadness and prayer as a result of this violent act that hit our community,” the office of Mayor Ubaldo Urquizo said on social networks.
Guayas is one of the four provinces in which President Daniel Noboa recently extended the emergency state by two months, to combat the violence of criminal bands.
Photo: © Sjankauskas | Dreamstime.com
