Eight dead in shooting outside Ecuador nightclub: police

Eight people were killed and two others wounded when a group of gunmen opened fire on a crowd outside a nightclub in a town in southwestern Ecuador, police have said.

Law enforcement arrived on the scene following an emergency call alerting them to a shooting, and found "several people wounded and seven bodies," police colonel Javier Chango told a press conference on Sunday, adding an eighth person died in the hospital.

The gunmen arrived in two pickup trucks and opened fire on people drinking outside the nightclub at 0615 GMT in Santa Lucia, which has a population of 38,000 in the Guayas Province.

Among the dead was the nightclub owner Jorge Urquizo, who was the brother of Santa Lucia's mayor.

Police found 800 cartridge cases at the scene.

After the attack, the gunmen got back in their trucks and fled along an "unknown route," Chango said.

The local police picked up a man driving a truck who was carrying a revolver, but were not able to determine whether he was involved in the attack.

The bodies of the dead were taken to a morgue in the neighbouring city of Daule.

The office of Santa Lucia's mayor, Ubaldo Urquizo, expressed condolences on Sunday.

"We unite in sorrow and prayer for this violent attack that has struck our community," the office said on social media.

____

Source: TRT