Young man killed in Los Claveles after thwarting robbery in south Guayaquil
Jesús Gabriel Gómez Torres, 25, was shot dead in the Los Claveles neighbourhood park after intervening to prevent a robbery. Residents fear reprisals and none wished to make statements to police.
Neighbour intervenes in robbery and is gunned down minutes later in Los Claveles
Jesús Gabriel Gómez Torres, 25, was shot and killed on Wednesday morning in the park of the Los Claveles neighbourhood in south Guayaquil, after attempting to prevent the robbery of an unknown pedestrian. According to extra.ec, the crime is believed to have been committed by members of a criminal organisation who came to support the alleged robber whom Gómez Torres had confronted.
A neighbour from the sector, identified under the protected name Patricia, witnessed the entire sequence from her balcony. Around 07:00, she saw the young man confront a man who was attempting to rob another citizen: he drew a bladed weapon, although he never used it, and landed a couple of kicks on the alleged thief.
"I saw that he never used the weapon, but he did kick the guy who wanted to rob. The boy didn't let them rob the other person, but then it seems he wanted to keep fighting with the supposed thief," Patricia recounted.
Convinced that the situation had been resolved, the woman left to take her son to school. She returned approximately 20 minutes later and found Gómez Torres standing beside the park. Mere seconds later, she heard gunshots.
Reinforcements for the robber and execution inside the park
According to testimonies gathered from residents of the neighbourhood, the alleged thief is believed to have gone to seek support from members of a criminal organisation. They followed the victim and shot him down inside the park. A stray bullet struck the window of a nearby residence, a fact that heightened alarm among residents.
"I would be nervous knowing that it could have been not just the window, but a member of my family," the same neighbour noted.
The National Police were alerted through a call to ECU-911, which reported a violent incident in the Portuaria cooperative. Officers who arrived at the scene confirmed that the young man had wounds to his head. None of the neighbours wished to give formal statements out of fear of reprisals.
No criminal record; family sought to rehabilitate him
A source at the National Police confirmed that Jesús Gabriel Gómez Torres, 25, had no criminal record. According to Patricia, the young man had recently begun consuming drugs and his father had attempted to have him admitted to a rehabilitation clinic without success. The father, who works selling mote, was the family's primary breadwinner.
"For us it is outrageous that for wanting to save a stranger from something bad happening to them, someone would end up like this," the resident stated.
Neighbours of the sector also noted that the park where the crime occurred has an ongoing security problem associated with lack of lighting, which according to them attracts the presence of suspicious people to the location.
Source: Google News EC — Guayaquil