These are the images of a young couple who were shot dead with a machine gun minutes after he declared his undying love for her as they celebrated her 22nd birthday.
Mateo Martínez Armoa, 21, and Anabel Centurion Mancuelo, 22, were shot over 35 times in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero in Paraguay on the border with Brazil on the night of 26th July.
Only a short while before, he posted on Facebook: “My love, today you complete another year of life and I thank God for that, as I thank every day that He placed you in my life. I pray that at the end of this day you feel your heart warm and filled with love, affection and joy. Congratulations my love, may God protect us and grant us many years of life.”
But by the end of the day, both of them were dead, with police believing the boyfriend was the intended target and his girlfriend was simply collateral damage.
According to the Paraguayan police, the gunmen left a note, written in Spanish, attached to the young man’s head that read: “Please don’t steal.”
The note was reportedly signed by the group ‘Justiceiros da Fronteira’ (‘Outlaws on the Border’).
The police said the couple went to the bar to celebrate Anabel’s 22nd birthday and that the gang’s goal was to kill Mateo.
The police said Anabel was sent to a private hospital in Pedro Juan Caballero still alive, but died during the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The Paraguayan authorities confirmed that the murdered man had a criminal record.
The police have not ruled out the possibility that his death was a gang-related execution, and do not believe that his girlfriend was part of his alleged criminal activity.
In May this year, an unidentified man was shot dead at the same border between Pedro Juan Caballero and the Brazilian municipality of Ponta Pora.
The CCTV shows a gunman firing at the victim through a car window.
The victim got out of the white car to talk to the driver about something when a gunman in a black car approached and shot him multiple times.
The investigations into both shootings are ongoing.
