A radio personality and his producer were gunned down this week as they delivered the news during a Facebook Live broadcast in the Dominican Republic, police said.
Presenter Luis Manuel Medina and producer Leonidas Martinez were slain Tuesday when gunmen broke into the studios of 103.5 FM in San Pedro de Macoris.
Three men have been arrested according to local media reports.
The motive for the attack wasn’t immediately clear.
Medina had recently been reporting on pollution in Laguna Mallen, a protected lake in San Pedro.
“The investigations have begun and we will try, with all the means in our powers, to reach the truth,” the nation’s Attorney General Jean Rodriguez said.
The victims were doing their show “Milenio Caliente” – Hot Millennium – on the social media platform when gunshots suddenly ring out, and a female voice can be heard screaming, “Shots, shots!”
But even as the shots were being fired, the unflappable Medina kept his show going, until the transmission finally cut off.
“Two people have died and one has been injured,” said national police spokesman William Alcantara.
Station secretary Dayana Garcia was shot in the stomach and listed in serious condition.
While harassment and intimidation of journalists is the Dominican Republic are common, but media-related murder is considered unprecedented on the island.
Journalism professor Olivo de Leon knew both victims and urged the government to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the killers.
“The authorities must investigate to determine not just the killers but also the intellectual authors so that we know why they were murdered,” he told the Guardian newspaper.
“Impunity in this case will generate fear among journalists, making them scared to speak out and do their jobs.”
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