Gunmen Invade TV Studio During a Live Program in Ecuador
Masked gunmen have broken into a live television studio in Ecuador and threatened terrified staff.
Employees were forced on to the floor during the broadcast by the public television channel TC in the city of Guayaquil before the live feed cut out.
Police say they later freed all the staff and made 13 arrests. The station said two employees were injured.
At least 10 people have been killed since a 60-day state of emergency began in Ecuador on Monday after a notorious gangster vanished from his prison cell.
A surge in violence in the Andean Nation, inside and outside its prisons, has been linked to fighting between drug cartels, both foreign and local, over control of cocaine routes to the US and Europe.
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During Tuesday’s assault at the TV station, one gunman pointed a pump-action shotgun at the head of one of the captives, who was also threatened with a revolver.
A woman could be heard pleading, Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot, AFP news agency reports, while a person could be heard screaming in apparent pain.
Please, they came in to kill us, a TC employee told AFP in a WhatsApp message. God don’t let this happen. The criminals are on air.
One cameraman was shot in the leg, and another’s arm was broken in the attack, the deputy director of news said.
Through our earpieces the producers told us, Be careful, they are trying to enter, they are stealing, they are mugging us, Jorge Rendon told the Reuters news agency.
The doors in the studio are very thick, almost bullet-proofed, and they were trying to get in because they wanted to gain access to the studio so we would say whatever they wanted us to say, he said.
Posting video of the suspects arrested on social media – and their weapons – police said the perpetrators would be punished for terrorist acts.
