A football coach nicknamed Madman was shot dead outside a restaurant by men “dressed as cops”.
Former footballer Julio Ariz Leiva was shot 15 times on Sunday (18 Aug).
The 47-year-old coach was killed as he and his team were having lunch at a restaurant before their match later that day.
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The horror unfolded in Camojallito village in La Democracia, Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala.
One line of investigation suggests that the attackers might have aimed to obtain Mr Leiva’s phone to extract information, such as text messages he had exchanged with another person.
For this reason, it is believed that it could have been an act of revenge over personal matters and that someone, not necessarily from the area, ordered the attack.
Additionally, investigators are trying to determine whether the fatal shooting took place because the coach had refused to come to an agreement regarding the match that Deportivo San Pedro and the team from La Democracia were playing that same afternoon.
The National Civil Police (PNC) indicated that both lines of investigation are probing whether there were links to organised crime and drug trafficking.
The Prosecutor’s Office stated: “At around midday, three men wearing vests that made them appear to possibly belong to the National Civil Police entered the restaurant to speak with the victim.
“As they left, they shot Ariz Leiva directly before fleeing the scene.”
Ariz Leiva was the head coach of Deportivo San Pedro, which plays in the Primera División de Ascenso – Guatemala’s second division.
He was killed before their fixture against Democracia FC, as reported by Need To Know.
Ariz Leiva was nicknamed “El Loco”, or “Madman”.
Born in neighbouring El Salvador, he played for more than a decade in Guatemala, with spells at several clubs.
Guatemala recorded 4,361 homicides in 2023, despite having a population of about a quarter of the size of the UK’s.
Other high profile killings in the Central American country this year include the murder of the singer Farruko Pop.
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