Under Investigation Shooting Attack on Vehicle of Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate
Jimmy Jaraila’s vehicle with the bullet impacts: Photo: X/ @ecuadorprensaec
October 20, 2024 Hour: 5:52 pm
The Ecuadorean police announced on Sunday that they will intensify investigations into the shooting attack on a vehicle of journalist and presidential candidate Jimmy Jairala in a residential area of the port city of Guayaquil.
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Fausto Buenaño, acting commander of the police force, said that only the driver of the vehicle was injured and had to be taken to a hospital for treatment, but he clarified that “he is out of danger”.
Buenaño, in a video broadcast by social networks together with the Minister of Interior, Mónica Palencia, said that the vehicle received six bullet wounds when it tried to enter a residential complex in Guayaquil.
He added that the police immediately took action and will continue with investigations, while Minister Palencia expressed the government’s support for Jairala and his family.
The officer also assured that the police investigations will maintain “rigor and professionalism” and that they will be conducted “without bias”, by virtue of which Jairala has been critical of the government of the current president, the right-wing Daniel Noboa.
Jimmy Jairla, a candidate for the social democratic movement Centro Democrático, said on social media that the attack occurred this morning when his son, his girlfriend and several friends were returning from a concert at a convention center in the city.
Jairala, 67 years old, said that the driver of the vehicle, whom he identified as Cipriano Quiñónez and who also provided security for the family, was injured, since the bullets, between nine or ten, were directed towards the driver’s door and window.