Ecuador: Armed attack leaves a total of 10 dead

A group of heavily armed men in Guayaquil, one of Ecuador’s most important cities, killed 10 people and wounded two others, a woman and a five-year-old girl, in a shootout that took place in a mechanical workshop on Saturday night. According to the authorities, a rifle and 9-millimeter caliber pistols were found in the place and, in addition, the commander of the National Police, William Villaroel, at a press conference, said that “we believe that this has to do with a struggle between criminal groups organized by the struggle for territorial control.” At the same time, he claimed that the attack happened around 20.40, at the time when several subjects fired long guns from a truck at people who were watching a football match. For its part, the Attorney General’s Office of Ecuador shared on Twitter that “it opened a preliminary investigation for the murder of 10 people, after an armed attack on Saturday night in Gómez Rendón and 14 streets, southwest of Guayaquil. Another 2 people are injured,” adding that at the moment, there are no detainees. Notably, the Ecuadorian government declared a state of emergency in early April in Guayaquil and surrounding areas with the intention of curbing the growing violence in the city. The measure also includes a curfew from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Another detail to highlight has to do with the fact that in this situation, the State commanded by Guillermo Lasso authorized civilians to carry and use weapons for personal defense.

Original source in Spanish