A Salvadoran cameraman was repeatedly shot on the morning of Nov. 16 in Ilopango, a town less than 10 miles outside San Salvador.
Samuel Rivas, a 28-year-old cameraman who worked for Canal 21 of Grupo Megavisión, was killed while working on reconstruction of a church, according to Grupo Megavisión.
The attorney general announced that the Anti-gang Special Unit of the Attorney General’s Office will investigate the murder, as reported by ElSalvador.com.
According to the site, Roberto Hugo Preza, news director at Grupo Megavisión, said that Rivas had a confrontation with gang members in the area a few months ago.
In a Grupo Megavisión report, the company said preliminary investigations indicated Rivas was killed by alleged gang members who confused the journalist with another person. However, the news company also cited the case prosecutor as saying it was a direct attack on Rivas, who was shot nine times.
El Salvador Times wrote that colleagues and friends said Rivas received threats from gang members.
The Board of Directors at the Association of Journalists of El Salvador condemned the murder and demanded that authorities carry out an in-depth investigation.
Colleagues remembered Rivas as a passionate and dedicated person who was eager to collaborate, according to ElSalvador.com.
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.
