Ecuadorian soccer player Jackson Rodriguez‘s wife and 5-year-old child were kidnapped following a home invasion.
The incident occurred around 3 a.m. Wednesday in Guayaquil, a port city considered one of the most dangerous places in the country, police said.
Rodríguez, 26, told police he heard a group of men breaking in and hid under a bed.
The intruders took Rodriguez’s wife and child after asking if he was home. Rodriguez told police he looked out the window when he heard them leave and said “that the individuals were traveling in a gray-colored double-cab pickup truck.”
Ecuador declared a state of emergency ten days ago in nine areas of the country, including Guayaquil’s province of Guayas.
Officials blame widespread violence and abductions in the county on organized crime. Ecuador is home to around 20 criminal gangs — some with names like like Los Freddy Kruegers, Los Cheronos and Los Lobos — involved in trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.
Between January and March, there were 742 violent deaths reported in Guayaquil, which is about 170 miles southwest of capital city Quito. The country as a whole has a murder rate between 5 and 6 times that of the U.S.
Police have not offered an update about Rodriguez’s wife and child.
Fellow Ecuadorian and Mushuc Runa defender Pedro Perlaza was rescued by police following a shootout with captors who held him at a house in a rural area for three days last December, according to Reuters.
Rodriguez, a fullback, plays professionally for Club Sport Emelec in Guayaquil.
