Seven Killed in Suspected Gang Attack in Ecuador

Photo: Collected

A suspected gang assault on a pool hall in Ecuador has left seven people dead and four others injured, police confirmed on Saturday.

Footage circulating online showed masked gunmen storming the venue in Santo Domingo, about 160 kilometres west of Quito, and opening fire on those playing billiards.

Police Colonel Beatriz Benavides said the violence likely stemmed from a territorial dispute between organised crime and armed groups.

Ecuador has become a key transit point for cocaine shipments bound for the United States and Europe, while also serving as a hub for extortion and contract killings linked to international cartels.

The late-Friday shooting was the fourth such attack in recent weeks. In August, seven others were killed in a pool hall in the same city.

The Ecuadoran Observatory of Organised Crime reported over 4,600 homicides in the first half of this year, a 47 per cent rise compared with the same period in 2024.

In June, authorities captured Ecuador’s most powerful gang leader, who was extradited to the United States the following month on drug and arms trafficking charges.