Almost at midnight on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, residents of Las Orquídeas, in the north of Guayaquil, heard what they put at about 50 shots. Armed men had arrived in a vehicle, witnesses told the Ecuavisa channel, and opened fire on a group of people in a neighbourhood park. The park sits next to a school.
Four people died. Two more were wounded. Primicias reported that the bodies of the dead were left lying in the park while the city waited for ambulances to take the injured to hospital. According to El Universo, at least four men were shot, and the bodies lay near the edge of the park that borders the school. Some neighbours who came out after the gunfire told Ecuavisa that a few of the victims were still breathing.
Who the victims were
Police said the victims lived in the area. They were between 25 and 65 years old, according to the police report. Authorities were looking into whether they belonged to a criminal gang, Primicias reported. Police gave no public statement on the night, and neither outlet reported a motive.
The scene filled quickly. Police officers and soldiers arrived, one ambulance and then a second came for a wounded man, and forensic teams from Medicina Legal took the bodies to the morgue, Teleamazonas said. The street where it happened is one of the few in the area without security gates, Primicias noted.
Residents told El Universo that police appeared to be following a lead and that suspects might have been detained. The police themselves gave no details, and the reports do not confirm any arrest.
A city under an emergency
Guayaquil has been under a state of exception since the start of the year because of rising insecurity, Teleamazonas reported. It is Ecuador’s most violent city. It closed 2025 with more than 2,322 murders, by that outlet’s count, while Primicias put the figure at more than 2.300.
The morning after, belongings of the people attacked were still lying at the site, El Universo reported. Nearby in Durán, three people were shot at a home that night, in the El Tropezón area, around 8 p.m.
Sources
- Conmoción en Guayaquil por masacre en un parque fuera de una escuela de niños
- Nueva matanza en Guayaquil | Cuatro personas fueron asesinadas en un parque de Las Orquídeas – Primicias
- Cuatro muertos y dos heridos en masacre de sicarios en Las Orquídeas, en Guayaquil – El Universo
Sources
- 4 killed, 2 injured in armed attack in southwestern Ecuador – Xinhua
- Seventeen killed as gunmen attack bar in Ecuador – BBC
