51³Ô¹ÏÍø

QUITO, ECUADOR - AUG. 9, 2023: Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead Wednesday while leaving a campaign rally in the capital Quito. The attack took place at 6.20 p.m. (2320GMT) as he was leaving the Anderson School. Villavicencio, who most polls put in fourth place among the eight candidates competing to fill the spot to be left early by current President Guillermo Lasso in elections on Aug. 20, had built his campaign around the fight against corruption and organized crime. The candidate, a 59-year-old journalist, was struck by three bullets after a gunman fired at least 40 shots, wounding other people, who have been taken to various health centers. In a video circulating on social media, a burst of gunfire is heard right as Villavicencio is getting into a car, and he is later seen on the ground, badly wounded. The country's Public Prosecutor's Office said on Twitter that the suspect in the attack, who was wounded during an exchange of gunfire with security personnel, was arrested and died shortly after. The attack comes 11 days before elections in a country experiencing an unprecedented security crisis. On July 17, National Assembly candidate Rider Sanchez was murdered in the coastal province of Esmeraldas, and days later, the mayor of Manta, Agustin Intriago, was killed in an armed attack. (Footage by Rafael Rodriguez Mayel /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)