- Ecuador president confirmed that Fernando Villavicencio, a contender in the 2018 presidential election in Ecuador, was killed at a campaign event in the nation’s capital on Wednesday as a fatal uptick in crime and violence sweeps the South American nation.
- Ten days before the August 20th first round of the presidential election, Villavicencio was shot and killed as he was leaving a campaign event at a school north of the capital Quito.
- According to a statement, the suspected shooter passed away while being held by police after exchanging gunfire with security forces.
- The attack, which left nine people injured, including a candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers, has been the subject of an investigation.
- The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office later said that six persons had been detained during raids in the Quito neighborhoods of Conocoto and San Bartolo, and that Villavicencio’s body had been sent to a morgue for an autopsy.