An alleged person involved in the murder, which occurred on Wednesday, of the Ecuadorian soccer player Mario Pineida, of Barcelona, was arrested in the coastal province of Guayas, the municipal security company of the city of Guayaquil reported this Thursday.
“Raids carried out and the alleged suspect arrested were the result” of the operation in which the aforementioned company and the National Police participated, he noted on his social network account X.
Mario Pineida, with the Barcelona Guayaquil shirt
He also reported that the arrest was possible thanks to technical monitoring with a video surveillance system, which made it possible to detect the motorcycles used in the event and, subsequently, locate a suspect.
The information obtained was shared with those in charge of the investigation, facilitating the execution of raids and “the arrest of the alleged perpetrator”, stated the security company and stressed that investigations continue.
In videos circulating on social networks, two subjects – one with a cap and the other with a helmet – can be seen entering the establishment where Pineida was. One of them shoots the player and the other shoots a woman.
Seeing the subject pointing at Pineida, he raises his hands, but the hitman still shoots him repeatedly.
Given versions that circulated that the murdered woman was the soccer player’s partner, his wife Ana Aguilar issued a statement denying it and asking for respect for his grief, for his integrity and that of his three children.
Fifth footballer murdered
Pineida was shot dead in broad daylight, in a busy area of Guayaquil, the most populated city in Ecuador, the epicenter of an unprecedented crisis of criminal violence that the Andean country is experiencing due to organized crime.
‘El Pitbull’ Pineida, 33 years old, had started his football career in the Valley Independent and he had also worn the t-shirts of the Fluminense Brazilian and El Nacional and Barcelona Ecuadorians, the latter in various periods and in which he was currently active.
Pineida’s murder is the most recent in a series of attacks against soccer players in Ecuador, where organized crime gangs have also expanded their tentacles to sports betting.
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Since the beginning of 2025, there have been at least five murders of soccer players in Ecuador, but Pineida’s is the first of a player from the first division and a member of one of the country’s biggest clubs, accustomed to winning national titles and competing in the Copa Libertadores.
