Ecuadoran soccer player Jonathan “Speedy” Gonzalez was shot and killed on Friday, marking the third murder of an athlete in the country since the start of September, police confirmed.

Authorities reported that the 31-year-old suffered fatal gunshot wounds in an attack inside a residence in the coastal province of Esmeraldas, a region bordering Colombia and known for the presence of rival drug gangs. A second, unidentified victim also died while being rushed to the hospital. Police have not disclosed a motive for the attack.

Ecuador, situated between cocaine powerhouses Colombia and Peru, has become a major transit hub for the drug trade, with 70 percent of the world’s cocaine passing through the country. The influx of gangs has fueled violent crime, driving the homicide rate from six per 100,000 people in 2018 to a record high of 47 in 2023, before slightly declining to 38 last year.

Earlier this month, two players from second-division club Exapromo Costa FC, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yepez, were shot in an attack in Manta, with Valencia killed instantly and Yepez dying from his injuries two days later. The club confirmed the attack was targeted at another individual, not the players themselves.

Gonzalez, who played for 22 de Julio FC, had previously represented Olimpia in Paraguay and Leon in Mexico. The Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) and several local clubs expressed condolences to his family.

RFI