Camera captured two men in the crime against sprinter Álex Quiñónez and singer Christopher Arcalla

Ecuador was shocked on Friday night by the violent death of Olympic sprinter Álex Quiñóñez. In the midst of a state of exception, which this week led the military to control the streets, the athlete was killed along with another person in the northwest of Guayaquil.

An initial verification carried out by the Nueva Prosperina district police indicates that the 32-year-old sprinter was talking on the street when he was killed in block 431 of the Colinas de la Florida sector.

Along with the athlete, Christopher Arcalla Ramírez, 23, who was a singer of urban music, was shot to death. The crime was recorded in videos that the Police review.

According to Mario Cazco, deputy police chief of the Nueva Prosperina district, Quiñónez and Arcalla were in that area when they were intercepted by two individuals who got out of a white vehicle. Immediately, the individuals fired on several occasions against the athlete and Arcalla.

The bodies fell on the road and the attackers fled in the vehicle. People who were nearby at the time ran to take cover from the bullets. Then, they came to help the victims.

Minutes later police officers arrived to verify the fact. Before the confirmation of the deaths of the two citizens, personnel from Criminalistics and from the National Directorate of Violent Deaths (Dinased) also attended. The alert of the shots in the area was received at 21:20 on the ECU-911.

Police officers verified video surveillance cameras in that area to begin to identify the attackers. An operation was then launched to locate those responsible for these murders.

Police review videos captured to find the whereabouts of murderers of sprinter Álex Quiñónez

Cazco stated that 25 ballistic evidence was collected at the site. Quiñónez’s relatives began arriving at the crime zone.

After midnight, the two bodies were transferred to the Criminalistics Laboratory, located on José Rodríguez Bonín Avenue, in the west of Guayaquil.

Cazco indicated that the motive for these murders is being investigated. The uniformed officer clarified that Quiñónez has no criminal record or investigative processes.

Arcalla does not have a judicial record, but it does have investigative processes for illegal possession of weapons and the crime of intimidation. Unofficially, the Police handle the hypothesis that Quiñónez was a collateral victim.

Yesterday morning, relatives of Quiñónez stationed themselves outside the Criminalistics Laboratory to remove his body. In a hearse, some of them awaited the departure of the body.

They hugged, cried, made calls to other close friends in Esmeraldas. An aunt of Quiñónez said that he was going to buy fast food in the area with his partner’s father, when he was surprised by the attackers.

Ecuadorian Olympic athletes lament the murder of sprinter Álex Quiñónez in Guayaquil

She narrated that they found out the news after watching videos on social networks. They immediately went to the crime area to verify if Quiñónez was one of the fatalities.

Around 09:00, several relatives of the athlete filed a complaint for this fact at the Model Barracks Prosecutor’s Office, in the north.

After 1:00 p.m., the body of the athlete was removed from the Crime Laboratory. Relatives transferred him to a building on Sedalana and Carchi streets, in the south of the city, where he lived his childhood. While the coffin with the remains of Quiñónez was lowered from the hearse by relatives, some neighbors and relatives received it with applause until they entered the house.

It was indicated that the body of the athlete was going to be transferred to his native Esmeraldas on the afternoon of this Saturday 23, to be veiled and be buried.

Relatives of the athlete asked that this murder not go unpunished and that those responsible for these violent deaths be captured. The Police continues to carry out operations to locate the attackers. (I)