Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio sh0t and k!lled at a campaign event few days before their general election.
Villavicencio was shot dead at a Movimiento Construye political rally at a school north of the capital Quito Wednesday night, August 9. He was gunned down 10 days before the first round of the presidential election which was set to take place on August 20.
Footage shared on social media showed Villavicencio, 59, being escorted out of the rally venue and into a waiting car. As he was getting into the back seat gunfire rang out. He was reportedly shot three times in the head.
According to reports, One suspect was shot dead in crossfire with security services, the country’s attorney general said, adding that nine people were injured among them a female candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers.
Villavicencio was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead.
Galo Valencia, the uncle of Villavicencio, confirmed that the politician was shot in the head.
‘We were a few meters outside the college gates, and as we were leaving there was a barrage of 40 bullets,’ he told El Comercio.
‘Some people were injured, some of them maybe seriously, and Fernando, unfortunately, was shot in the head.
‘The medical team have just confirmed that he has died. It’s an indescribable pain for the family.’
Last week Villavicencio, a former journalist known for tackling corruption, said he and his team had been threatened by the leader of a gang linked to drug trafficking.
In May, announcing his candidacy, he declared that he intended to ‘take on and defeat the mafias which have coopted the state and have society on its knees.’
General Manuel Iniguez, a deputy commander of the Ecuadoran national police, said a police officer was also injured in the attack, which happened outside a college in the north of Quito. The hit men launched a grenade toward Villavicencio’s group, but it did not explode.
He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cvw-hDjolzZ/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==