Four dead in ambush on Salitre-Samborondón road: three victims identified
Three of four victims of a multiple murder on the Salitre-Samborondón road were identified after a video went viral on social media. The attack occurred on Tuesday, 27 October.
Ambush on Salitre-Samborondón road leaves four dead; three of the victims identified
Three of the four people murdered on Tuesday, 27 October on the Salitre-Samborondón road in Guayas province were identified as Santiago Teodoro Mora Antepara, 42 years old; César Iván Gurumendi Jurado, 39; and Saida Kristell Palma Barzola, 19, according to reporting by extra.ec. The fourth deceased, a young man approximately 25 years old, remained unidentified at the time of publication.
The identification was possible after a video went viral on social media in which the licence plate of the vehicle in which the victims were travelling was visible. Following that circulation, family members went to the local morgue, where they collected the bodies after completing the corresponding forensic procedures. The relatives, visibly distressed, refused to speak to the media.
The attack occurred at 17:00 on Tuesday. The four victims were travelling in a red car through the Boca de Abajo district when another vehicle cut off their path. Several unknown individuals descended from that vehicle, who fired more than 15 times at the car and its occupants. All four died at the scene, according to police report. After the attack, those responsible fled at high speed in the direction of the hills of Samborondón canton.
Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Fernández, head of the Salitre police district, confirmed to extra.ec that the victims had been at Salitre beach, where they consumed alcoholic beverages, and that they were intercepted when returning to Samborondón. "They followed them and in this deserted sector, which belongs to Salitre's jurisdiction, they carried out the violent act. Possibly, these individuals are not from Salitre," Fernández said.
The police chief added that the investigation is progressing with information obtained together with Dinased: "We continue with investigations to determine the motive for this act, since we were able to obtain very valuable information with Dinased and we are searching for the individuals and the vehicle that was used for the act."
Officers from the Violent Deaths Unit (Dinased) and the Criminal Investigation division collected 11 spent nine-millimetre cartridge casings at the scene, which are undergoing forensic examination. The Police are considering several hypotheses and continue gathering accounts regarding the motive for the crime.
As of the morning of Wednesday, 28 October, another group of investigators was examining whether the vehicle in which the victims were travelling belonged to one of the deceased, as well as the origin and activities of each one. According to initial findings, some of the victims were originally from Samborondón canton and others from Daule canton.
Source: Google News EC — Crime