A man died this Monday and five other people were injured, including three minors, in a shooting in front of a school in Costa Rica in an apparent settling of accounts, authorities reported.
Two individuals on a motorcycle fired at a 25-year-old man who was in front of the school at the end of classes after noon, according to the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ, judicial police).
The man was hit by six bullets and died instantly, according to preliminary information, in this shooting that took place outside the Silvestre Grant school in the city of Siquirres, with about 35,000 inhabitants, the capital of an agricultural canton in the Caribbean province of Limón.
Two women were injured by stray bullets at the school entrance. One of them, 34 years old, was taken to a medical center after receiving a shot in the head.
Another 23-year-old woman was hit by projectiles in an arm and a leg. Three minors aged 11, 10, and 4 were also injured by gunfire in their limbs, without life-threatening risk, who were also taken to health centers by members of the Red Cross.
Authorities are investigating whether it was a new settling of scores. These acts have been repeated in Costa Rica for months with the increase in violence from drug trafficking gangs and organized crime.
This year, Costa Rica has recorded 126 violent homicides, 96 of them by firearm, according to OIJ data. Limón is the province most affected by drug trafficking and organized crime in the country.
2023 was the most violent year in the history of the Central American country since records began, with 907 violent deaths, a rate of 17.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, more than double the global average (8), according to the UN.
