In brief
Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old Ecuadorian footballer, was shot dead in Guayaquil. He was attacked by assailants on motorbikes outside a shop. Pineida, who played for Barcelona SC and earned nine caps for his national team, is mourned by the football community as violence escalates in Ecuador.
Ecuador defender Mario Pineida has died at the age of 33 after being shot in Guayaquil. Local media reported that Pineida was shot on Wednesday by two people on motorbikes who opened fire on him, his mother, and another woman outside a shop in the north of the city. Ecuador's interior ministry stated that it has dispatched a special police unit to investigate the incident. Guayaquil has recently become a hotspot for gang violence and drug trafficking, recording around 1,900 murders from January to September, making it the highest in Ecuador. Notably, three second-tier footballers were killed in September, and a local player was also injured in a shooting in October.Pineida earned nine caps for Ecuador between 2014 and 2021. He began his professional career at Independiente DV before joining Barcelona SC in Guayaquil in 2016. He also had loan spells at Fluminense and El Nacional. Both Independiente and Fluminense have paid tribute to Pineida on social media, while Barcelona SC expressed their profound shock at the news. In a statement, the Ecuadorian Football Federation condemned the violence and extended condolences to Pineida's family.
