Police officers guard a bar and liquor store where an armed attack against civilians took place near the town of El Empalme, Ecuador, on July 28, 2025. Armed attackers killed at least 17 civilians, including a child, and wounded 14 in two attacks overnight in violence-plagued Ecuador, where drug gangs have been vying for control, authorities said Monday. GERARDO MENOSCAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Gunmen shot dead at least seven people at a pool hall in the Ecuadoran city of Santo Domingo, police said Sunday, in the country's latest gruesome massacre amid soaring gang violence.

"Seven people died from gunshot wounds" at a pool hall in the nightlife district of Santo Domingo, about 93 miles west of the capital Quito, national police said in a WhatsApp group with reporters.

Police said they were investigating the incident and hunting for those responsible.

Purported security camera footage of the massacre circulating online showed several attackers wearing black masks open fire on two men standing at the entrance to the pool hall, sending pedestrians scrambling.

The gunmen then entered the hall and continued shooting, fleeing before a police vehicle approached.

AFP has not yet independently verified the footage.

According to local media, preliminary investigations indicated that the killings may be related to organized crime in the region.

A similar pool hall massacre took place last month in the southwestern tourist city of General Villamil Playas, leaving at least nine dead. And in April, armed men killed 12 people at a cockfighting ring around 30 kilometers from Santo Domingo.

Once considered a bastion of peace in Latin America, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis after years of expansion by transnational cartels that use its ports to ship drugs to the United States and Europe.

Drug trafficking organizations have been multiplying in Ecuador, where the homicide rate rose from six per 100,000 residents in 2018 to 38 per 100,000 in 2024.

Between January and May, there were more than 4,051 homicides, according to official figures. Analysts say it is the most violent start to a year in the country's recent history.

President Daniel Noboa's government has promised to crack down on crime, but despite widespread operations and constant states of emergency, there has been little reduction in the violence.

Last weekend alone, 14 people were killed in massacres in the troubled province of Guayas, one of four provinces where Noboa recently declared a state of emergency to combat gang violence.

In late July, armed attackers killed at least 17 civilians, including a child, and wounded 14 in two attacks overnight in El Empalme, Ecuador, authorities said.

Gangs vying for control of drug trafficking routes in Ecuador have taken advantage of the country's strategic location, its U.S.-dollar-based economy, and the corruption of some authorities.

Criminal gang violence continues unabated following the recapture in June of the country's biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024.

The Ecuadoran government last month extradited Macias to the United States, and he pleaded not guilty.

A seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn charges Macías, who leads the gang Los Choneros, and an unidentified co-defendant with international cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons counts, including smuggling firearms from the U.S.

Last year, the U.S. classified Los Choneros as one of the most violent gangs and affirmed its connection to powerful Mexican drug cartels who threaten Ecuador and the surrounding region.

Earlier this year, a leader of one of Ecuador's biggest crime syndicates, Los Lobos, was arrested at his home in the coastal city of Portoviejo. Carlos D, widely known by his alias El Chino, was the second-in-command of Los Lobos and "considered a high-value target," the armed forces said in a statement.

The U.S. last year declared Los Lobos to be the largest drug trafficking organization in Ecuador.

According to official figures, 73 percent of the world's cocaine production passes through Ecuadorian ports.

In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine, compared to 221 tons in 2023.

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