Six people, including a two-year-old girl, were killed when gunmen opened fire on a beachside boardwalk in Puerto Lopez, a town in southwestern Ecuador, on Sunday, December 28, 2025. Three others were injured in the attack, which occurred at approximately 9 a.m. local time.
The attackers arrived in a van and on motorcycles before opening fire with automatic weapons at a beachfront sports field. The gunmen fled the scene after the shooting, and no arrests have been made.
Colonel William Acurio confirmed the death toll and stated that among the victims was “a girl approximately two years old.”
Police believe an internal gang dispute motivated the attack. The shooting marked the third deadly attack in Puerto Lopez that weekend, with a total of nine people killed across separate incidents.
Puerto Lopez, located in Manabi province, is a popular whale-watching destination that typically attracts both domestic and foreign tourists. The coastal town has experienced a surge in violence as criminal organizations battle for control of drug trafficking routes in the region.
Following the attack, a Special Operations Group was deployed to conduct searches throughout the area. The province of Manabi has been under a state of emergency since August 2025 as authorities struggle to contain escalating gang violence.
Ecuador, positioned between Colombia and Peru, has experienced a dramatic increase in violence linked to the cocaine trade. Criminal gangs operating in Ecuador have established connections with Mexican and Colombian cartels, turning the country into a critical transit point for international drug trafficking.
President Daniel Noboa has instituted hardline policies against organized crime and declared an internal armed conflict in an effort to combat the violence. Despite these measures, the country is on track to end the year with a record murder rate.
Ecuador faces a homicide rate of 52 per 100,000 residents. This rate represents one of the highest levels of violence in Latin America and marks a dramatic deterioration in public safety across the country.
The surge in violence has particularly affected Ecuador’s youth, with child homicides increasing by over 640 percent. The death of the two-year-old in Puerto Lopez represents the latest casualty in this troubling trend, as criminal organizations increasingly carry out attacks in public spaces without regard for civilian safety.
Killings and armed clashes in neighborhoods and public spaces have become commonplace throughout Ecuador. Massacres at pool halls, sports facilities, and other gathering places occur with alarming frequency as rival gangs compete for territorial control and drug trafficking routes.
The government has declared multiple states of emergency in recent years, deploying military forces to support police operations in the most violent regions. Despite the militarization of streets and ports, violent attacks continue to affect both urban centers and tourist destinations like Puerto Lopez.
The strategic location of Manabi province makes it particularly valuable to drug traffickers seeking to ship cocaine toward the United States and European markets. This geographic advantage has transformed once-peaceful coastal communities into battlegrounds where criminal factions fight for control.
The weekend violence in Puerto Lopez underscores the challenges facing Noboa’s administration as it attempts to restore security. Critics argue that heavy-handed enforcement strategies have merely displaced violence from prisons to residential areas and public spaces, while doing little to address the underlying causes of Ecuador’s security crisis.
Tourism, once a vital component of Puerto Lopez’s economy, has suffered significantly as the whale-watching destination grapples with recurring violence. The transformation of a family beach boardwalk into a crime scene highlights how deeply gang warfare has penetrated into spaces previously considered safe.
The attack occurred during the holiday season, when coastal destinations typically see increased visitor numbers. The timing and location of the shooting demonstrate the brazen nature of criminal operations in Ecuador, where gangs conduct armed assaults in broad daylight at popular tourist locations.
For residents of Puerto Lopez, the weekend’s violence represents a devastating blow to community safety and economic stability. With nine deaths across three separate incidents in a single weekend, the coastal town faces an uncertain future as authorities continue searching for the perpetrators while struggling to prevent additional attacks.
