According to this article in the French sports newspaper L’équipe, it was an accidental death as he was caught in the crossfire during the time that he was sitting in a car with a renown Ecuadorian singer, Arcalla, about which the article does not mention if he was also killed.
The article also mentions that the president of Ecuador has given permission for the army to act as the police to combat rising crime rates in Ecuador and especially in the coastal city of Guayaquil which is a hotbed of crime, murder and mayhem.
In other news from Ecuador, recently there was a mutiny in the central prison of the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil with countless numbers of inmates being decapitated in rival gang warfare in the central prison.
Depressing times in Ecuador.
If any posters reading this plan to travel to Ecuador I suggest you travel to cities in the Highlands such as Cuenca and Quito. More peaceful and a different vibe. Rolando Vera, Byron and other top Ecuadorian distance runners as well as the world champion walker, Jefferson Perez, all come from Highland areas in Ecuador and not coastal areas.