Two unidentified attackers shot Urbano four times at around 2 a.m. while he was celebrating his 55th birthday with friends in the coastal city of Buenaventura, family members and authorities said.
Urbano hosted a one-hour morning radio program broadcast on local station Mar Estéreo. He was also the administrator of the Néstor Urbano Tenorio Park.
Urbano apparently devoted his final radio broadcast to denouncing a local criminal gang called Tumba Puertas (Knock Down Doors). The gang was a frequent topic of discussion on Urbano’s show; the broadcaster often blamed Tumba Puertas for rampant crime in the park and urged police to crack down on drug dealing there.
Urbano had also coordinated efforts to relocate street vendors and remove drug addicts from the park. Before his murder, he received death threats that he attributed to these public statements and actions.
CPJ published an alert about the Urbano murder on July 11.