Olympic sprinter Alex Quinonez shot dead

October 24, 2021 Sports,

Ecuadorian Olympic sprinter Alex Quinonez was shot dead in the port city of Guayaquil, authorities confirmed on Friday.

Quinonez 32, and another person were found dead close to midnight, according to the police.

Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso on Saturday decreed a state of emergency throught the country beginning Monday that will last for 60 days in a bid to track down the killers.

" This who take the lives of Ecuadoreans will not remain unpunished. We will act with force,” Lasso tweeted.

With the provincial governor also pledging accountability for the murders.

“No one will rest until @PoliciaEcuador captures the culprits. We are facing a war against drug gangs that intend to subdue us,” Pablo Arosemena, the governor of the Guayas province, whose capital is Guayaquil, said on Twitter.

The country’s Sports Ministry first confirmed the World Championship 200 meters Bronze medalist killing on Twitter, paying tribute to “the greatest sprinter this country produced.”

“We have lost a great sportsman, someone who allowed us to dream, who moved us,” the ministry said.

Quinonez held Ecuador record for the 200 meters sprint with a time of 19.87 seconds.

He was a finalist in the 2012 London Olympic Games where he finished seventh.