ECUADORIAN presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot dead just days before the election.
Multiple bullets hit the former journalist, 59, as he left a political rally at a school in northern Quito on Wednesday evening.
Horror images showed terrified people screaming and taking cover as gunfire rang out.
Chilling video on social media showed Villavicencio being escorted out of the event by guards before entering a white truck before gunfire erupted.
Dozens of shots were heard as the horrified crowd ducked and fled.
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A second clip appeared to show dad-of-five Villavicencio on the ground while a third video showed him being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher.
It's understood the aspiring president was shot three times in the head.
He was raced to a nearby clinic where he was pronounced dead, less than two weeks before the election on August 20.
One suspect was shot dead in crossfire with security services.
A further nine people were injured in the horror incident, including a female candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers.
And at one point, a grenade was thrown toward Villavicencio’s group, but it didn’t explode.
A criminal gang called Los Lobos (The Wolves) claimed responsibility for the assassination.
President Lasso said: "I assure you this crime will not go unpunished.
“Organized crime has gone too far but they will feel the full weight of the law.”
Villavicencio’s death comes as the country is dealing with a wave of violent crime, including drug trafficking and murders.
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He was a member of Ecuador’s National Assembly before its dissolution in May and was one of the leading candidates in the first round of voting to succeed President Guillermo Lasso.
Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the front-runner, for the August 20 vote.
The politician was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement.
Villavicencio was a vocal critic of corruption, especially during the tenure of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017.
He was also an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments, later entering politics as an anti-graft campaigner.
His campaign adviser, Patricio Zuquilanda, told the Associated Press that Villavicencio received several death threats before the shooting and reported them to the authorities.
“The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded,” he told the outlet.
“Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society.”
Former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner echoed Zuquilanda’s concerns in a news conference, saying: “We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this.
"We demand that you do something.”
Villavicencio leaves behind a wife and five children.
