A football referee has been shot de@d during a football match in Ecuador.
The victim, identified as 48-year-old Javier Ortega, was shot de@d in front of dozens of people watching the match in the town of Pasaje in Ecuador’s coastal province of El Oro on Sunday, April 12, according to reports from the country.
Eyewitnesses said multiple unidentified gunmen approached the referee during the match before opening fire. The killers then fled the scene.
The match was immediately abandoned as players and spectators scrambled for cover.
The organising club has suspended future matches until the circumstances of the incident are clarified, as family members of the victim demand a swift investigation.
Authorities have meanwhile opened a police investigation, with the incident being considered a targeted killing.
A football official paid tribute to the victim, and was quoted in The Sun saying: ‘Javier was a dedicated official, to lose a life over a game of football is unacceptable.’
The police were also quoted in The Sun, stating that officers were ‘currently reviewing mobile phone footage’.
‘(We are) interviewing witnesses to identify the perpetrators,’ they reportedly said.
‘This is a cold-blooded crime committed in a space meant for community and sport.’