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  "path": "/2026/04/15/football-referee-shot-dead-match-front-horrified-players-fans-27986524/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-15T14:09:48.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "Football",
    "Sport",
    "Ecuador",
    "Ecuador football team",
    "Local outlet LA100",
    "mobile phone",
    "The Sun",
    "Sign up to our daily football newsletter",
    "crime",
    "Valencia",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source"
  ],
  "textContent": "Javier Ortega was shot and killed during a local match (Picture: JamPress)\n\nA referee was shot dead midway through a football match in Ecuador after gunmen stormed the pitch and opened fire.\n\nJavier Ortega, 48, was killed while officiating a local amateur match in front of horrified players and fans in the town of Pasaje in the coastal province of El Oro on Sunday.\n\nWitnesses reported multiple gunmen approached the referee during the match, opening fire before fleeing the scene. Local outlet LA100 reports players and spectators ran for cover as the violence erupted.\n\nEmergency services attended the scene but Orteta was declared dead with local authorities closing off the area. The match was immediately abandoned with the organising club suspending matches until further notice.\n\nOrtega was well-known local figure, regularly refereeing matches in the area. His death has prompted instant outcry with locals paying tribute with candles lit in his memory in the neighborhood while also demanding an immediate investigation.\n\nA police spokesperson said officers are ‘currently reviewing mobile phone footage,’ The Sun report.\n\n‘[We are] interviewing witnesses to identify the perpetrators,’ the statement said.\n\n##  Get personalised football updates every day\n\nSign up to our daily football newsletter and choose your team to get the latest news, rumours and more about your favourite team.\n\nEcuador international Mario Pineida was shot and killed last year (Picture: Getty Images)\n\n‘This is a cold-blooded crime committed in a space meant for community and sport.’\n\nThe police investigation is ongoing.\n\nIn December last year, former Ecuador international Mario Pineida was shot dead in the city of Guayaquil.\n\nThe 33-year-old, who won nine caps for his country, was gunned down by two people on motorbikes while standing outside a shop with his mother.\n\nTwo months earlier, Maicol Valencia and Leandro Yépez, both players of second division team Exapromo Costa, and Jonathan González, of 22 de Junio died from gunshot wounds.\n\nIn November, a 16-year-old footballer of Independiente del Valle died from a stray bullet, also in Guayaquil.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Football referee shot dead during match in front of horrified players and fans"
}