Chilling details of Barcelona de Ecuador player’s street murder | OneFootball

The open investigation in Guayaquil finds no evidence of robbery and everything points to a targeted attack against the former Barcelona local defender for unknown reasons. A woman also died at the scene, with their bodies surrounded by a crowd.

South American football is experiencing moments of shock due to news that has shaken Ecuador. Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old left-back for the local Barcelona, was murdered in Guayaquil following a targeted armed attack, according to initial official data.

According to the initial reconstruction, the incident occurred after 3:50 PM, when the player was in a commercial establishment with his mother and another woman, the second person who died as a result of the attack.

As detailed by the Expreso portal, two armed men, who allegedly had been following the victims, opened fire without a word. As a result of the attack, the footballer and the woman died there, in front of a butcher shop whose window was shattered by the shots, while the defender's mother was injured.

Colonel Edison Palacios provided details on the condition of the survivor and confirmed: “It can be said that it was indeed a targeted attack.” He also explained that the injured person suffered a superficial head injury and was out of danger after being assisted for about an hour and a half in an ambulance that remained at the scene before being transferred to a city medical center.

Meanwhile, El Universo reported that the attackers were on motorcycles and escaped after firing the shots. The police clarified that it could not be determined if there was an attempted robbery and that, so far, there are no arrests.

Numerous videos published on social media show the bodies of both victims outside the shopping center, mostly uncovered, surrounded by onlookers in a worrying amount of time without preserving the scene, which could hinder the investigation. Finally, a crowd gathered in the street, among them even appeared Pineida's teammates from Barcelona Ecuador.

The institution to which the footballer belonged confirmed the death through an official statement: “Barcelona Sporting Club informs, with deep regret, that it has been officially notified of the death of our player Mario Pineida, an event that occurred following an attack against him.”

The impact was also felt in the regional football world. Fluminense, the club where he played in 2022, expressed: “Fluminense Football Club received with deep regret the news of Mario Pineida's death”, while Liga de Quito and Independiente del Valle sent messages of condolences to the family.

In the sports field, Pineida developed most of his career in Ecuador and was a champion twice with Barcelona, in addition to reaching the Copa Libertadores semifinals and wearing the Ecuadorian national team jersey in eight official matches.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.