Gilberto Hernández
Popular football star shot dead by gunmen
A member of Panama’s national football team was shot and killed in the city of Colón.
Gilberto Hernández, 26, was one of several people who had gathered in a downtown building when gunmen began firing at them.
Hernández was killed and seven other persons were hurt in the attack.
The football player, who also played for Club Atlético Independiente, was shot, but it is now unknown whether he was the intended target or the shooting’s motivation.
In recent months, Colón has seen an increase in homicides as two rival gangs battle for control of lucrative drug smuggling routes.
So far, more than 50 people have been killed in Colón, a city of 40,000 inhabitants, so far this year.
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The port city, on the north entrance to the Panama canal, is a transit point for cocaine smuggled from South America through Panama to Europe.
The shooting happened on Sunday afternoon local time.
Two gunmen forced a taxi driver to take them to a building in the city’s Barrio Norte neighbourhood and opened fire on the group gathered there.
The gunmen fled the scene, but a suspect has since been arrested in a flat nearby.
Gilberto Hernández had made his debut in the Panamanian national side in March this year in a match against Guatemala.
The player’s father urged the youth of Colón “to stop the violence” and called on the authorities to “launch projects to save the youth from this violence”.
He also asked the killers to hand themselves in: “Don’t cause more harm.”
Panama’s football federation and Gilberto Hernández’s club expressed their condolences to his family.
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