Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed on Wednesday, President Guillermo Lasso mentioned, vowing the homicide won’t go unpunished.

Local media had earlier reported Villavicencio, a former lawmaker who had been polling at 7.5% voting intention, had been shot at a marketing campaign occasion in Quito.

“For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished,” Lasso mentioned on X, the social media platform previously often known as Twitter. “Organized crime have gone very far, but all the weight of the law will fall on them.”

Lasso mentioned he would host prime safety officers at an pressing assembly.

Videos on social media purportedly from the marketing campaign occasion confirmed folks taking cowl and screaming as gunfire sounded.