ECUADOR FOOTBALLER, JONATHAN ‘SPEEDY’ GONZALEZ SHOT DEAD, THIRD PLAYER KILLED THIS MONTH

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Agency report

Ecuadoran footballer Jonathan Gonzalez was killed on Friday, marking the third murder of a professional player in the country since the beginning of September, police have confirmed.

Authorities said the 31-year-old, popularly known as “Speedy” Gonzalez, sustained “gunshot wounds” during an attack inside a residence in the coastal province of Esmeraldas, a region bordering Colombia that has been heavily affected by rival drug gangs.

A second, unidentified victim also died while being rushed to hospital.

Police did not immediately disclose the motive behind the crime.

Gonzalez, who once played for Olimpia in Paraguay and Leon in Mexico, was most recently a member of Ecuador’s second-division side 22 de Julio FC.

The tragedy comes just days after two other footballers, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yepez of Exapromo Costa FC, were gunned down in Manta on September 10.

Valencia died in the attack, while Yepez succumbed to his injuries two days later. The club said the players were victims of an assault intended for another target.

Ecuador, wedged between the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, has become a key departure hub for global drug trafficking.

The resulting influx of gangs has fueled spiraling violence, pushing the homicide rate from six per 100,000 in 2018 to a record 47 in 2023, before slightly declining to 38 last year.

The Ecuadorian Football Federation and several local clubs expressed condolences to Gonzalez’s family following his death.