ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper
The president of a Colombian second-division football team was fatally shot dead by hitmen after his club’s defeat on Saturday night.
Edgar Paez had been at the helm of Tigres de Bogota since 2016 and was driving home from the club’s Metropolitano de Techo stadium in the capital city when he was targeted by two men on a white motorbike.
The 64-year-old received four shots to the neck and skull, and despite a swift transfer to the Mederi Clinic, Paez died at the hospital from the severity of his injuries.
Second-division Tigres FC had earlier lost 3-2 to Atletico FC de Cali at their home ground.
The two hitmen were thought to be trailing the vehicle shared by Paez, his wife, and his daughter after leaving the stadium for several minutes before the attack, and quickly fled the scene.
Paez’s daughter in the passenger seat was uninjured in the fracas, which was caught by a number of security cameras on Avenida de las Americas where the attack took place.
According to an interview with her uncle - Paez’s brother - Wilson on the television programme NotiCentro1, his niece was lucky to survive after a bullet ‘grazed her temple’.
‘Fortunately, my niece (Edgar’s daughter) is alive, because one of her bullets grazed her temple,’ Wilson Paez shared. ‘In the midst of this tragedy, we have the consolation of knowing that she is fine.’
As per Colombian outlet El Tiempo, two presidents of Colombian football teams - who spoke on the condition of anonymity - suggested that Paez’s death could be related to sports betting.
As recently as last week, president of Colombia’s top flight Major Football Division (Dimayor) Fernando Jaramillo confirmed in an interview with SEMANA that the league had received ‘alerts’ about instances of match-fixing in the league below, where Tigres FC plays, but did not specify which clubs were under scrutiny nor share any further details.
But Wilson Paez emphatically denied rumours that his brother’s death was linked to illicit activities, stating: ‘They are pure speculation. Some journalists and media tend to weave very delicate theories into their information, but they do not reflect the true reality.
‘Some suggest that he could be involved in money laundering or drug trafficking, which is far from his economic situation and the results of the investigations against him.’
