Hours after President Danilo Medina announced in his state of the nation address at the National Assembly on the morning of Wednesday, 27 February 2019 that crime was at an all-time record, a gang of assailants hit upon 11 people taking a stroll in the Las Praderas park area in the National District at around 4pm.
The Police were prompt in making arrests. On Sunday, 3 March 2019, Judge José Alejandro Vargas sentenced the first two of the suspects Leonel Francés Guzmán and Waldy David González de Jesús to three-months preventive custody.
What is known is that individuals assaulted at gunpoint the strolling families. The assailants then left on a motorcycle. More are sought in the case.
The families said that five masked and armed men assaulted them when they were on their Independence Day stroll in Las Praderas Park, that is located off Av. Gustavo Mejía Ricart near Av. Núñez de Cáceres.
The victims were identified as Margarita Emilia Roa Sánchez, Jonathan Bobea Roberts, Edmundo Messina Viña, Raúl Alejandro Cuevas Tejada, Diana Carolina Polanco Báez, Paola Mariel Espinosa Castro, Ricardo Ernesto Corporán Peguero, Gerda María Soro Sención, Joao Mohadib Viñas Asenjo, José Adolfo Sánchez Hernández y Zacarías Dael Garib Pimentel who said they belongings, including mobiles, jewelry and cash were stolen.
Within two hours, the National Police had arrested two of the men who admitted to their crime and identified the remaining members, at least by their nicknames: Guajiro, Jordan and Abuelo. These three are being pursued by the police.
According to the police report the five men managed to steal from 11 persons articles that included money, rings, watches, cell phones and even personal documents. This was done at around 4:30pm and by 6:30pm the Police had captured two of the assailants. The director general of the National Police, Ney Bautista Almonte, reported that the two men arrested have a long history of arrests for assaults and robberies.
Read more in Spanish:
El Nacional
El Nacional
MetroRD
4 March 2019