Costa Rica’s most important Catholic pilgrimage site was struck by gunfire during Saturday morning Mass, with two bullets shattering windows on the south side of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles as worshippers gathered inside, the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) confirmed.
The OIJ said agents corroborated that a window on the south side of the temple bore two firearm projectile impacts, though no ballistic evidence — including shell casings — was located at the scene. No injuries were reported, and no arrests have been made.
According to preliminary information from the Fuerza Pública and witness accounts, the detonations were heard between roughly 8:20 and 8:30 a.m. as the 8 a.m. Mass was being celebrated. Witnesses told investigators that a motorcycle passed near the sanctuary around the time the shots rang out, and that two men on a motorcycle were seen in the area. The incident was formally reported to the OIJ at 11:20 a.m. by Fuerza Pública officers at the site.
Eric Lacayo Rojas, regional director of the Fuerza Pública in Cartago, said the priest celebrating Mass heard a loud noise during the ceremony. Once the service concluded, two broken windows were discovered on the south side of the building.
“Impacts were heard on the glass, we didn’t know the cause, so we called the OIJ,” Luis Esteban Fernández, a spokesperson for the basilica said. “We don’t know who did it, the exact moment it happened, or anything. We didn’t find shell casings or any other hole apart from the one visible in the glass.”
In an official statement, the basilica confirmed the gunfire broke the glass of the south door leading to the sacristy and said the source of the shots could not be determined, prompting the formal report to authorities. “At this time, everything is in order. As a preventive measure, security at the basilica will be reinforced over the coming days,” the statement read.
Investigators have not established whether the temple was deliberately targeted or whether the shots were part of an isolated incident in the surrounding area. The OIJ continues to investigate, including following up on the witness accounts of the motorcycle and the shots.
The Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, dedicated to Costa Rica’s patron saint — known as La Negrita — is our country’s principal Catholic sanctuary and draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year, particularly during the August 2 feast day, when the faithful walk from San José to Cartago in a national pilgrimage known as the Romería
