Few days prior to the country’s general election, Fernando Villacencio, a candidate for president of Ecuador, was shot and killed at a campaign event.
On Wednesday, August 9, Villacencio was fatally shot during a political gathering that was being held at a school north of the capital Quito.
He was shot and killed ten days before the August 20th first round of the presidential election.
Villavicencio, 59, was seen in video posted on social media being led into a waiting car after leaving the rally’s location. Gunshots could be heard as he was climbing into the back seat. Three shots to the head are said to have been fired at him.
Nine individuals were hurt, including a female candidate for the national assembly and two police officers, according to the attorney general of the nation. One suspect was killed in the firefight with security forces, he added.
Villavicencio was transported to a hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.
General Manuel Iniguez, a deputy commander of the national police of Ecuador, claimed that a police officer was also hurt in the incident, which took place in front of a college in the region north of Quito.