Football referee shot dead during match in front of horrified players and fans

A referee was shot dead midway through a football match in Ecuador after gunmen stormed the pitch and opened fire.

Javier Ortega, 48, was killed while officiating a local amateur match in front of horrified players and fans in the town of Pasaje in the coastal province of El Oro on Sunday.

Witnesses reported multiple gunmen approached the referee during the match, opening fire before fleeing the scene. Local outlet LA100 reports players and spectators ran for cover as the violence erupted.

Emergency services attended the scene but Orteta was declared dead with local authorities closing off the area. The match was immediately abandoned with the organising club suspending matches until further notice.

Ortega was well-known local figure, regularly refereeing matches in the area. His death has prompted instant outcry with locals paying tribute with candles lit in his memory in the neighborhood while also demanding an immediate investigation.

A police spokesperson said officers are ‘currently reviewing mobile phone footage,’ The Sun report.

‘[We are] interviewing witnesses to identify the perpetrators,’ the statement said.

‘This is a cold-blooded crime committed in a space meant for community and sport.’

The police investigation is ongoing.

In December last year, former Ecuador international Mario Pineida was shot dead in the city of Guayaquil.

The 33-year-old, who won nine caps for his country, was gunned down by two people on motorbikes while standing outside a shop with his mother.

Two months earlier, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yépez, both players of second division team Exapromo Costa, and Jonathan González, of 22 de Junio died from gunshot wounds.

In November, a 16-year-old footballer of Independiente del Valle died from a stray bullet, also in Guayaquil.