QUITO, ECUADOR (AP) – Ecuadorian police said Wednesday that Barcelona de Guayaquil defender Mario Pineida, 33, was shot dead in an apparent attack as violence escalates in the Andean country.
Another person, whose identity has not been released by police, was also killed and a third person was injured in the incident.
Ecuador’s Interior Ministry confirmed Pineida’s death without providing further details. Barcelona de Guayaquil said in a statement that their fans were saddened by Pineida’s death.
Pineida began his professional career with Independiente del Valle, where he played from 2010 to 2015. He then moved to a club in the coastal city of Guayaquil in 2016, where he won two league titles. The defender also had a short spell with Brazilian side Fluminense in 2022.
Ecuadorian media reported that the incident occurred in the Samanes region of Guayaquil’s north, 265 kilometers (165 miles) southwest of the capital Quito.
Ecuador is most violent year According to Ecuador’s Organized Crime Monitoring Service, more than 9,000 murders have been recorded. The figure stands at 7,063 deaths from violence last year, and 8,248 in 2023, a then-record number.
President Daniel Novoa has pledged to fight against criminal organizations linked to international drug cartels that are expanding their activities within Ecuador’s territory.
Also in Guayaquil in November, a 16-year-old soccer player for Independiente del Valle was killed by a stray bullet. Two months earlier, Exapromo Costa’s Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yepes, and 22 de Junio’s Jonathan González were killed by gunfire.
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