Eight people were killed in a mass shooting outside a nightclub in a town in western Ecuador, according to officials and local media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday in the town of Santa Luc\u00eda, in Guayas province, near the entrance to the nightclub, according to local police officials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preliminary reports indicate that a gray pickup truck arrived at the nightclub and several armed individuals got out and opened fire on people gathered outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven victims died at the scene and an eighth died at a medical facility, authorities said. The dead include seven men and one woman, all between 22 and 40 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police confirmed that one of the victims was Jorge Luis Urquizo Ferruzola, 40, the paternal half-brother of Santa Luc\u00eda Mayor Ubaldo Urquizo Mora. Urquizo, who had no criminal record, was the owner of the nightclub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three people, one man and two women, were taken to a medical facility but later released after being found not to have serious injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the scene, investigators found more than 40 spent 5.56 mm shell casings and more than 40 9 mm casings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attack comes as several provinces in Ecuador remain under a state of emergency, declared by President Daniel Noboa in response to escalating gang violence nationwide. Noboa has characterized the country\u2019s struggle against criminal organizations as a \u201cwar\u201d and designated gangs as terrorist groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eight people were killed in a mass shooting outside a nightclub in a town in western Ecuador, according to officials and local media. The attack occurred at around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday in the town of Santa Luc\u00eda, in Guayas province, near the entrance to the nightclub, according to local police officials. Preliminary reports indicate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":57853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[619,3671,850,94],"class_list":["post-57838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-ecuador","tag-guayas-ecuador","tag-mass-shooting","tag-shooting"],"yoast_head":"\n