This is a breaking story… please check back for updates.
During a campaign rally on Wednesday, Fernando Villavicencio, a anti-corruption candidate in Ecuador’s Presidential race, was assassinated.
Reports indicate that Villavicencio sustained three gunshot wounds to the head.
Additionally, a grenade was discovered at the location.
Others were reportedly also injured in the attack.
Villavicencio was rushed to the emergency room, but unfortunately he did not survive.
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Local media outlets reported that supporters of Villavicencio were able to capture a suspect following the assassination.
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More footage showing the immediate aftermath and ensuing chaos was shared on Twitter.
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Police exchanged gunfire with the assassin.
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Watch first responders rushing Villavicencio into the emergency room:
El Pais reported (translation via Google translate):
The candidate for the presidency of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio was shot to death this Wednesday afternoon after participating in a campaign event in Quito. The attack occurred at 6:20 p.m. outside the Anderson school in the capital. Villavicencio, whom most polls placed in fourth or fifth position among the eight opponents who will dispute the succession of Guillermo Lasso on August 20, presented himself as a battering ram against corruption under the slogan It’s time for the brave.
After the rally and just before getting into his vehicle surrounded by bodyguards, the 59-year-old candidate and a journalist by profession, was hit by bullets. The hitmen fired at least 40 shots and injured other people who accompanied him. The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that the alleged perpetrator of the attack died after a confrontation with security forces. Lasso pointed to “organized crime” and the victim herself, close to the president, had denounced threats from a criminal group linked to the Sinaloa Cartel in recent days.
