Gilbert Hernandez defender of the Panamanian soccer team, died at age 26 after gunmen opened fire on him on Sunday as he was with a group of friends on a central street in Colón, a violent port in the Central American country. Authorities on Monday announced the arrest of a suspect.
hernandez He is the second Panamanian international murdered in Colón in the past six years. In 2017 the midfielder Amílcar Henríquez, who was part of the team that qualified his country for the first time in its history for a World Cup in Russia in 2018. was also shot dead.
Hernández was hit by gunfire from two unidentified men who got out of a taxi, according to police, and seven other people were wounded in the attack.
Hernández played for Club Atlético Independiente, current champions of the professional league of Panama. He played two games with the national team, the second a friendly against Argentina, the current world champions, in March. Panama lost 2-0 in Buenos Aires. After the game, he and other teammates took a photo together Leo Messi.
Manuel Arias, president of the Panamanian Football Federation, He wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that Hernández was “a professional player who lost his life today, unfortunately because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He added that this is an example of “the violence that has shaken our society and that we must fight against.”
Victim of violence in Colón
Colón is located 80 kilometers north of the country’s capital, Panama City, where ships enter and leave the Caribbean Sea through the Panama Canal.
The Panamanian province of Colón, with a population of about 300,000, registered 102 homicides last year, nine less than last year, according to government data. Authorities attribute much of the violence to drug trafficking competition.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
