Canal 33 cameraman Alfredo Antonio Hurtado was shot to death Monday, April 25, while riding a bus in Ilopango, El Salvador, El Mundo reports.
Hurtado, 39, died immediately after being shot multiple times by two individuals at point-blank range, La Prensa Gráfica explains. Investigators have discarded robbery as a motive, because the assailants did not take his money or his watch.
An anonymous police official told EFE that they believe his profession as a media worker “could have lead to the crime.”
The officer said that Hurtado had received threats and Canal 33 reported that its cameraman was “constantly participating in police operations and raids against gang members.”
According to another La Prensa Gráfica story, the El Salvador Association of Journalists (APES) said this is the third media worker killed in recent years in the country, including radio journalist Salvador Sánchez in 2007 and European photojournalist Christian Poveda in 2009.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
