Video: Footage released of the murder of Mario Pineida, the Ecuadorian soccer player for Barcelona

The images last barely 33 seconds, but they are enough to reconstruct a brutal scene. The video, captured by a security camera at a butcher's shop in northern Guayaquil, recorded the moment when two men arrived at the premises, looked inside and, without saying a word, drew firearms and fired repeatedly and directly at Mario Pineida and Gisella Fernández, his partner. There was no struggle or attempted robbery. It was a precise attack. In a matter of seconds, the assailants fled, the bodies were left lying on the floor, and the employees sought refuge behind plastic boxes stacked inside the store. Among the fatal victims of the attack, which occurred on Wednesday, December 19, are Mario Pineida, a 33-year-old soccer player for Barcelona Sporting Club, and his partner, Gisella Fernández, a 39-year-old Peruvian national. According to CNN, Letty Martínez, the player's mother, was at the scene and was injured during the shooting. She was taken to a health center but is now out of danger. The murder occurred around 3:53 p.m. in the Samanes 4 sector, north of Guayaquil. According to the ECU-911 emergency system log, two men on motorcycles stopped in front of the butcher shop located on Isidro Ayora Avenue in the Sauces 6 area. They got off their bikes, aimed, and opened fire. From the outset, according to CNN's reconstruction, the police maintained that it was a targeted attack. "Colonel Edison Palacios, spokesperson for the force, summed it up to the press with a blunt statement: ‘Everything indicates that it was a direct attack.’ No signs of robbery or prior exchange were detected. The sequence was quick and lethal. On Wednesday night, forensic personnel removed the bodies and transferred them to the morgue. At the same time, the prosecutor's office and the police moved forward with gathering images and testimonies. The next day, the Guayaquil Municipal Public Security Company (Segura EP) reported that, after joint raids with National Police officers, a suspect had been arrested. “The result was made possible by technical monitoring with the video surveillance system, which allowed us to detect the motorcycles used in the crime and subsequently locate a suspect,” the agency said in a statement. However, the Prosecutor's Office clarified that no charges had been filed at this time and that the identity of the detainee had not been revealed. When consulted by CNN, agents indicated that the motive for the crime remains under investigation. As the hours passed, the commotion grew. The initial version stating that the murdered woman was the footballer's wife was publicly denied by Ana Aguilar, the footballer's wife and mother of his three children, in a message posted on social media. "I would like to respectfully and emphatically clarify that this information is completely false. I am his wife, Ana Aguilar, mother of his three children, and I am alive,“ she wrote. She added: ”We deeply regret the death of my husband, Mario Pineida, an event that fills us with grief as a family. At this difficult time, we ask for respect for our mourning, for my integrity, and especially for that of our three children." Following that post, Ecuadorian media confirmed that the woman killed was Gisella Fernández, the player's current partner. "The crime took place in a sensitive context for Barcelona Sporting Club, the institution with the largest fan base in the country. Hours before the attack, the professional team had made public a claim for unpaid wages, and the club's president, Antonio Álvarez, responded with a statement full of internal reproaches. In that message, he slipped in a disturbing warning: one of the players had requested private security due to death threats. “As the hours passed, it was confirmed that Pineida was not the player under protection—that protection belonged to Dixon Arroyo—although the timing inevitably linked the murder to a climate of tension, vulnerability, and institutional breakdown.” Barcelona Sporting Club confirmed the death with a brief statement: "You will always have a special place in Barcelona's heart, Marito, you earned it with all the heart you gave. Thank you for everything, we miss you.“ The Ecuadorian Football Federation also expressed its sorrow: ”The FEF condemns violence and deeply regrets the sad passing of Mario Alberto Pineida." Clubs from abroad joined in the messages of condolence. Real Madrid wrote on social media: “Our condolences to his club, his family, and all his loved ones. Rest in peace.” From Brazil, Fluminense, where Pineida played in 2022, expressed its solidarity: "Pineida arrived at Fluminense at the start of the season in which we were crowned champions of Rio de Janeiro. Fluminense expresses its solidarity with his family and friends," it said. Mario Pineida was no minor figure in Ecuadorian soccer. He trained at Independiente del Valle, where he played between 2010 and 2015. He established himself as a left back and was champion with Barcelona Sporting Club in 2016 and 2020. In 2022, he played for Fluminense. He then wore the El Nacional jersey, with which he won the 2024 Ecuador Cup, and returned to Barcelona, where he played 224 games, was captain in 2025, and was a leader in the locker room. He also played for the Ecuadorian national team.