Terrifying video shows police officer in Venezuela run for cover as gang loots his vehicle in an attack that left one cop dead and three others wounded
- Police officer César Castillo was shot dead Thursday in Caracas, Venezuela, after a gang ambushed him and three cops on a highway in the Cota 905 district
- A video recorded by a resident shows one of the four police officers running away from his SUV while gang members shoot at him
- The wounded cops were identified as officer José Linares and detectives Eduardo Reyes and Reiner Borges
- No arrests had been reported as of Friday afternoon
A police officer was killed and three others wounded in Venezuela when an armed gang ambushed a patrol vehicle in the middle of a highway.
An officer can be seen running from the scene while suspects fire at him during the disturbing incident which was captured on video by a resident in the Caracas neighborhood of Cota 905 Thursday.
Officer César Castillo died of a gunshot wound to the left side after he was rushed to a local hospital.
Officer José Linares suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg; Detective Eduardo Reyes was shot on the right shoulder area; and Reiner Borges was grazed by a bullet. The three remained hospitalized, but their injuries were not considered life threatening.
Members of a gang run loose on a highway in Cota 905, a neighborhood in the Venezuela capital of Caracas on Thursday. The armed men ambushed four police officers in their official vehicles and forced them to step out before they shot at them. The fallen officer was identified as César Castillo, who died of a gun shot wound to the left side after he was rushed to a local hospital. Officer José Linares suffered a gun shot wound to the left leg; detective Eduardo Reyes was shot on the right shoulder area; and Reiner Borges was grazed by a bullet
A police officer runs for cover after he and three other agents were ambushed on a highway in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday
Cops seek cover on a Venezuelan highway while they faced fired from gang members Thursday
Separate video footage from a National Guard officer’s bodycam showed the unit’s armored vehicle being attacked as it sped down the highway.
The heavily armed gang managed to shatter the truck’s front windshield in the assault. According to local Venezuelan news outlets, stole the police officers’ weapons that were left behind in the vehicles.
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is recognized as the interim president by the United States, Canada, and countries in Latin America and Europe, called on President Nicolás Maduro to stop the violence that has besieged the Cota 905 district.
‘If Maduro says he controls something, why doesn’t he go to Cota 905 right now to support our officials?,’ Guaidó tweeted. ‘He tries to sell a control that he does not even have in the capital. Meanwhile, our officials cannot even defend themselves due to the dictator’s protection of organized crime.’
A police officer searches a vehicle that was attacked by an armed gang on a highway in Venezuela on Thursday moments after the suspects forced four cops to abandon their SUVS and later opened fire on them, killing one of the agents
Gang members in Caracas, Venezuela, are pictured vandalizing police vehicles after they forced four cops off the SUVs and then shot them, including one who died at a local hospital
According to Infobae, the sector is considered practically off-limits to any person who does not live there due to the constant gun battles.
Cota 905 was included in the Maduro regime’s 2013 Zone of Peace accord. As part of the treaty, rival gangs were called on to cease attacks and were paid to lay down their weapons and become law abiding citizens.
Worried residents in the Caracas neighborhood also called on Maduro to crack down on the gang’s leader, known as ‘Coqui.’
According to a 2020 report released in January by non-governmental agency, Venezuelan Violence Observatory, the South American nation ranked No. 1 among all Latin American countries with 11,891 deaths generated by violent incidents.
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