10 August 2022 | CPJ
Journalist Gerardo Delgado shot to death in Ecuador
Shooting
On August 10, two gunmen shot and killed journalist Gerardo Delgado Olmedo while he was in his car stopped at a traffic light on the outskirts of the Pacific coast city of Manta, Ecuador.
Shortly before the shooting, Delgado had received a call informing him of a possible suicide—a report that turned out to be false—and was on his way to investigate, according to news reports.
Police later detained two suspected gunmen, one of whom said that he was to have been paid $2,000 for killing Delgado, according to news reports.
Delgado, 39, posted videos about crime and neighborhood news on a Facebook page that he founded called Ola Manta TV. Rody Vélez, a Manta journalist and close friend of Delgado, told CPJ that Delgado sometimes criticized the Manta city government for the lack of streetlights, garbage collection, and other public services in poor neighborhoods. Due to such reporting, Vélez said that Delgado was well-known in Manta and considered running for a city council seat in local elections scheduled for next year.
“He was very passionate in his reports, and he always defended the victims,” Vélez told CPJ.
Ecuador’s Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo tweeted that authorities were trying to determine the motive for the crime, which is under investigation by the attorney general’s office.
Read the original article here: https://cpj.org/2022/08/ecuadorian-journalist-gerardo-delgado-olmedo-shot-and-killed-in-manta/
