Locals shot while watching a pickup game.
Sad news out of Honduras this weekend, where 14 people were killed Saturday at a community soccer field in the town of Felipe Zelaya, near the coastal city of San Pedro Sula.
The incident took place around 3:15 p.m. when a group of at least nine masked men wearing flak jackets and armed with handguns and automatic rifles, including AK47’s and M16’s, arrived at the field in two vehicles.
According to investigators, the men were posing as members of the Honduran DNIC (national police). They asked some bystanders to identify the owner of a Chevy Avalanche parked by the field.
After searching the SUV, they found several weapons, which is when they ordered the bystanders to lie down on the ground, where they were executed.
Once the shooting began, people at the scene started to flee, prompting the gunmen to begin firing in all directions, according to one survivor.
“When they started shooting the people close to the car, those of us who were further back started to run, and that’s when they started shooting like crazy. It was raining bullets and they were flying by my ears,” he said, adding, “I was running so fast I couldn’t feel my feet and I thought my heart was going to burst out of my body. It’s a miracle that I’m alive, there were lots of people who escaped, but those who were killed are innocent people.”
Ten individuals died at the scene, while an additional eight were transported to hospitals, but four of them died en route. One of the survivors, who is currently in critical condition, is Jorge, who was the referee for the match that was being played at the time.
Police investigators believe that the perpetrators, who are still on the run, are members of two criminal groups, one known as “Mara 18″ and the other, “Los Tercereños.” They are thought to have been trying to kill or capture a member of the rival gang “Los Olanchanos” who goes by the pseudonym “Froylán”, the owner of the Avalanche, who fled the scene when the attackers arrived.
Most of the victims would simply be innocent bystanders who had come to the field to watch football, and were not involved in the gang feud. The youngest victim was 22 and the oldest was 60.
These violent gangs are involved in the local drug trade, with rival groups battling for control of the area. The massacre is just one more in a long string of battles between the groups.
IT'S SO SAD ITS SUPPOSED TO BE A BEAUTIFUL GAME
Some people are yet to realise that the world needs the intellectuals more than the peeps who are wont to subscribe to brute force.Violence should be discouraged not only in football,but in other spheres.
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