7 People in Costa Rica Found Dead with Shots to the Head

7 people were found dead Wednesday with gunshots to the head in Limon, Costa Rica’s Caribbean province, authorities said, in an apparent dispute between rival drug gangs. 

“Judicial agents at the scene indicate that seven people are confirmed dead (…) There is one who is known to the authorities, a 40-year-old man named Hernandez Fernandez,” said a spokesman for the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), an agency that supports the criminal courts and the Prosecutor’s Office.

The incident took place during the afternoon in a small street of a private property in the town of Aguas Zarcas, in La Bomba, Limón.

According to local media, the cause was a “tumbonazo”, a term used locally to identify the theft of drug shipments between different drug trafficking gangs. 

“The victims were in a vehicle when they were intercepted and ambushed by several men who pulled them down and shot them. All of them were shot in the head,” said the OIJ.

The entity confirmed that, in addition, there are four survivors, one of them wounded, although it did not provide further details.

After this event, Costa Rican authorities reported the arrest of four other people, who would be part of a larger group that would have carried out the massacre.

Limon is recognized as one of the most conflictive provinces in Costa Rica and last year registered more than 130 violent deaths, according to official data, a figure that corresponds to 25% of the total for the entire country.