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Ecuador prosecutor investigating TV studio attack shot dead in his vehicle, attorney general says
A prosecutor investigating the dramatic live-broadcast armed assault last week on an Ecuadoran television station was shot dead Wednesday, the country’s attorney general said.
“In the face of the murder of our colleague Cesar Suarez… I am going to be emphatic: organized crime groups, criminals, terrorists will not stop our commitment to Ecuadoran society,” Attorney General Diana Salazar said in a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Local media broadcast images of Suarez’s truck with bullet holes through the driver’s window on a street in the port city of Guayaquil, the nerve center of Ecuador’s war against narco gangs.
The murder comes amid a surge in violence in the once-peaceful South American country, which has become a hub for the global export of cocaine from neighboring Colombia and Peru.
CHRISTIAN VINUEZA/AFP via Getty Images
The government last week declared war on powerful drug gangs, who in turn threatened to execute civilians and security forces and carried out a wave of attacks that have left about 20 people dead.
President Daniel Noboa in turn deployed to the streets over 22,000 security forces, who have frisked and stripped down young men in search of the tattoos identifying them as a member of one of the gangs.
Last Tuesday, hooded gunmen burst into a TV studio, firing shots and forcing terrified staff to the ground in an incident broadcast live for about 30 minutes until police arrived on set.
Thirteen assailants were arrested, many of them teenagers.
A prosecution source told AFP Suarez had been in charge of determining which criminal group was behind that attack.
Salazar wrote on social media that it was “impossible” not to be affected by the death of her colleague.
“Thank you for your work, César. Rest in peace. My solidarity with his family and friends,” she wrote.
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NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.