A hospital was raided by 7 gunmen with the aim of killing the teenager who was being treated at a hospital in Chone region in western Ecuador. After the attackers took the nurses hostage at the hospital, a large number of police were sent to the scene. The attackers, who also opened fire on the police, held 5 hospital personnel hostage for about an hour. Authorities reported that the target of the attackers was a 17-year-old rival gang member nicknamed “Dirty Face” and 7 attackers were detained.
“The attackers apparently did not know the hospital layout. Thank God everyone is alive,” spokesman at the hospital, Homero Andrade, told El Diario after the incident.
Gang violence has increased in Ecuador in recent years, and there have been multiple deadly prison riots in the country.