Three gunmen kidnapped public school teacher Silvestre Montilla from the Fidel Ferrer public school on Monday, 4 February and later shot and left the mortally injured teacher in an empty lot near the Las Americas horseracing track.
A relative, Pastor Reyes, told reporters that the armed men entered the school at 4 in the afternoon when Montilla was teaching and asked him to accompany them. He said that Montilla complied in order to protect his students from harm. The director of the afternoon shift of the school called the Police after seeing the gunmen and the teacher walking past his office. Reyes said that Montilla was shot an hour after the kidnapping.
Montilla lived in Herrera with his wife Griselda Rodriguez and their seven children.
According to reports, the teacher owed money to loan sharks operating near the Cooperativa de los Maestros. Police spokesman Maximo Baez said that a loan shark had lent Montilla RD$300,000 on condition that he would pay the money back when he received a loan from the National District Teachers Cooperative. However, when he received the loan, he did not pay back the debt. The Police have arrested two men, named as Gregorio Lopez and Jean Carlos Lopez in connection with the case.
www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2013/2/7/150135/Secuestraron-de-aula-a-profesor-hallan-muerto