This Thursday, an alleged accomplice in the murder of Ecuadorian soccer player Mario Pineida, of the Barcelona de Guayaquil club, was arrested.

The alleged criminal was captured in the coastal province of Guayas (southwest), reported the Guayaquil Municipal Security Company.

“Raids carried out and alleged accomplice arrested was The result” of the operation in which the aforementioned company and the National Police participated, stated on his social media account.

In videos circulating on social media, two subjects - one with a cap and the other with a helmet - can be seen entering the establishment where Pineida is located. One of them shot the player and the other a woman.

Upon seeing the man pointing the gun at him, Pineida raised his hands, but the hitman shot him repeatedly anyway.

Amid rumors circulating that the murdered woman was the footballer's partner, his wife, Ana Aguilar, issued a statement denying this and asking for respect for her grief, her well-being, and that of her three children.

Ecuador suffers its fifth footballer. murdered in 2025

Pineida was gunned down in broad daylight in a busy area of ??Guayaquil, Ecuador's most populous city, the epicenter of an unprecedented wave of criminal violence.

“The Pitbull” Pineida, 33, began his football career with Independiente del Valle and had also played for Brazilian club Fluminense and Ecuadorian clubs El Nacional and Barcelona, ??the latter in several stints. Currently.

The murder of Pineida is the latest in a series of attacks against players in Ecuador, where organized crime gangs have also extended their reach into sports betting.

Since the beginning of 2025, at least five footballers have been murdered in Ecuador, but Pineida's is the first of a player from the Ecuadorian first division and a member of one of the country's major clubs, accustomed to winning national titles and frequently competing in the Copa Libertadores.