ESMERALDAS, Ecuador (BN24) — Ecuadorian footballer Jonathan González was shot and killed Friday in the coastal province of Esmeraldas, marking the third fatal attack on a professional player in the country this month, police confirmed.
The 31-year-old midfielder, known by fans as “Speedy” González, was gunned down inside a house in Esmeraldas, a region near the Colombian border that has become a flashpoint in Ecuador’s spiraling drug violence. A second, unidentified victim also died en route to a hospital following the shooting.
Authorities have not released a motive for the attack. González previously played for top clubs including Olimpia in Paraguay and León in Mexico, and most recently represented second-division side 22 de Julio FC.
His death follows the killings of two Exapromo Costa FC players earlier this month in a separate shooting in Manta, a southwestern coastal city. Maicol Valencia was killed on the scene on September 10, while his teammate, Leandro Yepez, died from his injuries two days later. The club said the players were not the intended targets.
The Ecuadorian Football Federation and multiple domestic clubs offered condolences to González’s family following news of his death.
Ecuador, positioned between the world’s two largest cocaine producers Colombia and Peru has seen a surge in organized crime and gang-related violence in recent years. Once considered one of the region’s safer nations, its homicide rate soared from six per 100,000 people in 2018 to a record 47 in 2023, before slightly declining to 38 last year.
With drug trafficking routes shifting and criminal networks expanding, the killings of high-profile athletes have further underscored the deepening crisis in the Andean nation.
