Story By: Juan Fenandez Mayes, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Four people have died after a boozed-fuelled game of Russian roulette in coronavirus isolation saw a man killed and led to a bloody shootout with the police.
The incident occurred on Wednesday 1st April in the town of Guamal located in the department of Meta in central Colombia and saw two policemen killed as well as a fugitive ex-paramilitary boss.
Local media report the men playing the game did so while drinking alcohol and in quarantine.
Colombia has been in lockdown since 24th March to stop the spread of the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization.
Serbian citizen Dejan Stanimirovic, alias ‘Marcos’, was killed during the deadly game which led authorities to go to the house after the gunshot was heard.
According to Colombian newspaper ‘El Tiempo’ a witness said: “They seem to have started playing the ghoulish game of Russian roulette with a revolver and during the foreigner’s (Stanimirovic’s) turn, he discharged the weapon and was gravely injured.”
There are conflicting reports where Stanimirovic’s body was found. El Tiempo report he died in hospital while Colombian radio station ‘Blu Radio’ say he died in the home where the game was played.
However, the Serbian man is reported to have died from the gunshot suffered during the game of Russian roulette.
State police arrived at the house after the gunshot was heard by neighbours but were allegedly received with gunfire by the men in the house.
Policemen Armando Esteban Rodriguez and John Jairo Reyes were killed during the exchange as well as ex-paramilitary boss Jose Vicente Rivera Mendoza, alias ‘Soldado’ (Soldier).
Police reportedly detained five other men and seized seven weapons inside the residence.
The Meta police made a statement saying: “We condemn the homicide of our uniformed men, Armando Rodriguez and John Reyes, who offered their lives carrying out of their duty in Guamal.
“We offer our sympathy to their families. There were five people captured and we seized seven guns in the incident.”
It is unclear what Stanimirovic was doing in Colombia or his relation with Rivera Mendoza.
Rivera Mendoza was reportedly the boss of the former Colombian paramilitary group ‘Heroes del Llano’ (Heroes of the Valley) and was sentenced to over 26 years in prison in 2006,
It is unclear how he got out of prison.
Colombia announced they were implementing a lockdown after cases of COVID-19 started to rise in the country.
According to the latest figures by Johns Hopkins University, there have been 1,161 cases leading to 19 deaths in the country.
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