Five Shot Dead At Pool Hall In Ecuador • Channels Television

Five people were killed in a shooting at a pool hall in western Ecuador, police said Saturday — the latest homicides in a country struggling through a bloody wave of drug gang violence.

Three men got out of a van and opened fire at the hall in Santo Domingo, located about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the capital Quito, a police official said, describing the incident as a “dispute between organized crime groups.”

Beyond the five people killed, one more was wounded, the official told local news outlet Alfa & Omega.

READ ALSO: Suspected Gang Attack In Ecuador Kills Seven

Similar killings have occurred at pool halls in Santo Domingo in recent months.

Nestled between the world’s biggest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, a growing gang presence has turned once-peaceful Ecuador into the country with South America’s highest homicide rate, according to the InSight Crime think tank.

In the first half of 2025, the number of homicides increased 47 percent as compared with the same period last year, according to the Ecuadoran Observatory on Organized Crime.