Member of Panama’s national soccer team shot and killed in Colon; 2nd in 6 years

PANAMA CITY — A member of Panama’s national soccer team was once killed when gunmen opened fireplace on a gaggle of other people accrued in the rustic’s violent port town of Colon. Authorities on Monday introduced the arrest of one suspect.

Defender Gilberto Hernández, 26, was once the second one member of the national team killed in Colon in the previous six years.

Hernández was once with buddies on Sunday alongside a boulevard in central Colon when attackers in a taxi opened fireplace, in keeping with police. Seven other folks have been wounded in the assault.

Colon sits 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Panama City, the place ships input or go out the Caribbean Sea during the Panama Canal.

Panama’s Colon province, with a inhabitants of about 300,000, recorded 102 homicides closing 12 months, 9 fewer than the 12 months earlier than, in keeping with executive knowledge. Authorities blame a lot of the violence on drug trafficking festival.

In 2017, midfielder Amílcar Henríquez was once shot to loss of life in Colon province. He was once a member of Panama’s national team, which certified for the 2018 World Cup for the primary time in its historical past.

Hernández performed for Independent Athletic Club, the reigning champion of Panama’s skilled soccer league.

On the national team, Hernández performed a pleasant fit towards international champion Argentina in March. Panama misplaced the sport 2-0 in Buenos Aires. Afterward, Hernández and different teammates took pictures with Argentine big name Lionel Messi.

Manuel Arias, president of the Panamanian Soccer Federation, wrote on X, the platform previously referred to as Twitter, that Hernández was once “a professional player who today lost his life, sadly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He added that it was once an instance of “the violence that shakes our society and which we must combat.”