The Public Prosecutor's Office of Guatemala is maintaining a comprehensive investigation into the armed attack on November 13 in the hamlet of El Tocino, village of La Majada, municipality of Zacapa, which left five people dead and three wounded. The prosecutor's office seeks to determine the criminal responsibility of those who participated in an incident in which gunfire struck people and vehicles at various points in the community.
Prosecutorial, technical, and police teams remain deployed in the area to document the crime scenes and collect evidence. The breadth of the work perimeter is due to the fact that the evidence is scattered across several sectors of the hamlet.
The attack occurred in the early morning hours and required coordinating the intervention of various units of the institution. The Public Prosecutor's Office reported that the field work included the collection of ballistic evidence, the documentation of the injuries suffered by the victims, and the inspection of the damage to the vehicles that were hit.
The investigation is not limited to a single point in the community because the gunfire was recorded in different locations. That distribution of the evidence extended the forensic procedures and requires reconstructing the sequence of events with the information obtained in each sector.
Ballistic evidence and reconstruction of the attack
The prosecutor's office is analyzing the evidence collected at the scene and cross-referencing information from different sources to establish the authorship and the circ…
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Several numbered evidence markers indicate clues along a dirt road where an off-road vehicle and police officers are located. (Illustrative image Infobae)
The Public Ministry of Guatemala is maintaining a comprehensive investigation into the armed attack on November 13 in the hamlet of El Tocino, village of La Majada, municipality of Zacapa, which left five people dead and three wounded. The prosecutor's office seeks to determine the criminal responsibility of those who participated in an incident in which gunfire struck people and vehicles at different points in the community. Prosecutorial, technical, and police teams remain deployed in the area to document the crime scenes and collect evidence. The breadth of the work perimeter is due to the evidence being scattered across several sectors of the hamlet. The attack occurred in the early morning and required coordinating the intervention of different units of the institution.
The Public Ministry reported that the field work included the collection of ballistic evidence, the documentation of the injuries suffered by the victims, and the review of the damage to the vehicles that were hit. The investigation is not limited to a single point in the community because the gunfire was recorded in different locations. That distribution of the evidence extended the expert procedures and requires reconstructing the sequence of events with the information obtained in each sector.
Several numbered forensic markers indicate evidence along a dirt road where a van came to a stop on the edge. (Public Ministry)
The prosecutor's office is analyzing the evidence collected at the scene and cross-referencing information from different sources to establish the authorship and exact circumstances of the attack. The number of people affected and the characteristics of the scene prompted a procedure that covers the entirety of the events that occurred in El Tocino.
The institution did not detail how many people are linked to the investigation nor did it advance concrete leads on the possible perpetrators. That information is being kept under reserve while the proceedings continue and the results of the forensic examinations are consolidated.
Personnel were prioritized in the area from the first hours after the attack, which occurred one day before the release of the institutional statement. The presence of prosecutors, technicians, and agents seeks to preserve and document the elements that may contribute to identifying those responsible.
The investigation is also part of an approach aimed at the criminal dynamics affecting the Zacapa area. The Public Ministry stated that it has institutional capabilities to sustain criminal prosecution in the territory in the face of events of this nature. The approach seeks to address both the specific attack and the pattern of violence that, according to the prosecutor's office's assessment, could be associated with the area. The institution considers that the extent of the scene and the modality of the aggression are central elements for guiding its actions.
The prosecutor's office asked the population to provide information through the institutional channels enabled for this type of case. The Public Ministry maintained that citizen collaboration can directly contribute to the progress of the proceedings and to clarifying what happened. The agency did not specify a telephone number or a particular platform in the communication released. However, it referred to the already established institutional mechanisms for receiving complaints and information related to ongoing investigations.
The contribution of the population, according to the institution, can help clarify the case and reinforce the actions aimed at combating and preventing similar criminal acts in the region. The request comes as the teams continue analyzing the elements recovered in the hamlet.
So far, the Public Ministry has not confirmed whether there are any detainees in connection with the attack, nor has it set a deadline for concluding the proceedings. The institution indicated that it will report on progress.