An unidentified assailant fired four shots at Estrada, a local
correspondent for the national television station Tele Diario, as he was getting
off his motorcycle on a street in Chiquimula, 140 miles (225 kilometers) east
of Guatemala City, according to local news reports and CPJ interviews.
Witnesses quoted in the local press said the gunman fled in
a car that was parked at the scene of the crime. Amílcar Rodas Ruano, a
reporter for Tele Diario, told CPJ that Estrada’s cell phone had been taken in
the 8 p.m. attack.
Estrada, 39, covered general assignments, which included stories
on organized crime and drug trafficking. He had worked for more than 20 years
as a journalist, local reporters told CPJ, covering Chiquimula for about half
that time. His wife told local reporters that she did not know of any threats
against him.