At least six minors were hit by bullets during this holiday in different parts of Guayaquil when gunmen came to kill their relatives and neighbors.
Two minors aged 3 and 15 died after being shot in the Nueva Prosperina district. Four others were shot and some are still hospitalized.
Among the victims is a 4-year-old girl who is in serious condition at the Francisco de Ycaza Bustamante hospital.
She was wounded in the abdomen when a hitman arrived in La Floresta, south of Guayaquil, to kill her father, who was wounded in the back, but is stable.
They were going to burn the old year when they were attacked with bullets: a man died and a girl was injured
Colonel Marcelo Castillo, head of the South district, said that the girl’s father was threatened, that he had already been attacked months before and that he had moved away from the sector, but he arrived on the night of December 31 to spend with his family.
There, the hitman took the opportunity to try to kill him and when shooting injured the minor. The event occurred while the residents arranged the stick figures to burn them. Two minutes to 2023.
During that early morning, the other two cases were reported in the northwest of Guayaquil.
A 15-year-old boy died after being shot in the head when he was with several neighbors in the doorway of his house, in the María Piedad cooperative.
His father saw the teenager faint around 5:00 a.m. and said he never noticed the gunmen shooting at a neighbor. He thought it was the sound of fireworks.
Although the teenager was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, he died shortly after from a brain hemorrhage.
“I saw that my son fainted, I brought him to the hospital and he had a bullet in his head.” 15-year-old teenager, the first collateral victim of hitmen in 2023
A similar story lived a family from the San Ignacio cooperative. They were celebrating the beginning of the year at their home when armed men arrived at the building on a motorcycle to kill one of their members.
The gunmen fired about 40 shots with a rifle in the portal of a house where there were dozens of people. The shells not only hit the target of the attack, but also his 3-year-old nephew and five other people.
The boy, identified as Ian Jael, died shortly after when he was transferred to the Los Ceibos hospital.
Other teenagers were also hit by rifle bullets. The injured are Matheo A., 14, who was shot in the left arm; Ney M., 16, whose right eye was grazed by the bullet; and Shirley A., 16, who has a hip injury.
In addition, two adults aged 23 and 25 were also injured in the armed attack.
Major Óscar Orellana, deputy chief of Nueva Prosperina, confirmed that the target of the attack also died from the shots. He explained that it was Édison Tomalá, 43, who had a criminal record for micro-trafficking in 2014 and 2021.
A resident of La Germania was hit by a stray bullet when she was burning the old year with her grandchildren
In Nueva Prosperina, four groups dispute the sale of drugs. It is presumed that these gangs took advantage of the celebration to execute their enemies while they were reunited with their families.
During 2022, at least 264 minors were murdered nationwide; 80 were infants under the age of 2, 33 were children between the ages of 2 and 12, and 151 victims were adolescents. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
