A scathing investigation by the Public Ministry (prosecutor’s office of the Attorney General Office – PGR) has dismantled the initial version provided by the National Police (PN) regarding the fatal shooting of five men in La Barranquita, Santiago, with prosecutors now alleging the incident was a premeditated extrajudicial execution.
The investigation was carried out after the family of one of the deceased, a barber, pressured and caused indignation in Santiago that led to the calling that the PGR carry out a thorough investigation. Investigations into Police shootouts in the DR are the exception, not the rule, given that the population in general has favored the extrajudicial executions, especially in the case of persons known to have committed several crimes who have found loopholes to evade justice.
The PN had initially claimed the deaths occurred during a fierce “exchange of gunfire” as the men, whom police described as members of an organized crime structure, “faced agents with bullets.” However, the Public Ministry’s evidence directly contradicts this account.
The investigation has led prosecutors to seek 18 months of pretrial detention for the 11 police officers involved, whom they accuse of a planned action to assassinate the victims and systematically eliminate evidence afterward.
The investigation points to key evidence that undercuts initial Police claims. According to the autopsy reports and ballistic analyses included in the court file, crucial forensic findings reveal the following:
• No return fire: Ballistic and gunshot residue tests confirmed that none of the five victims fired a weapon.
• Police-issued weapons: Projectiles recovered from the victims’ bodies match the service weapons of the involved police agents.
• No contraband substances: Toxicology analyses found no controlled substances in the bodies of the deceased.
The Public Ministry’s filing details an elaborate operation, suggesting the encounter was not a spontaneous shootout. Instead, the operation seems to have been orchestrated from Santo Domingo. Six of the eleven accused agents traveled from the National Police Headquarters in Santo Domingo to Santiago for the supposed operation, which was reportedly linked to an arms trafficking case. These agents were members of the Department of Investigation of Organized Crime and Complex Cases.
Once in Santiago, the Santo Domingo-based officers met with five other local agents from the Central Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DICRIM). The group of eleven then proceeded to the parking lot of a commercial plaza on Avenida Olímpica in La Barranquita.
The PGR document establishes that the victims were shot without warning. At 2:21pm, the victims —identified as Carlos Enrique Guzmán Navarro (40), Elvis Antonio Martínez Rodríguez (26), Julio Alberto Gómez (28), Edward Bernardo Peña Rodríguez (35), and José Vladimir Valerio Estévez (25)— arrived at the location in three separate vehicles.
The prosecution states that at 2:26pm, the plainclothes police officers exited their vehicles and “opened fire without prior warning” as the five men entered the plaza’s parking area.
What makes the initial Police claims less convincing are the new allegations there was significant evidence tampering. The subsequent actions of the officers are central to the Public Ministry’s claims of an execution and cover-up. Prosecutors allege that the police sought to destroy evidence and obstruct the investigation.
The Public Ministry report findings include details on:
• Witness coercion: A witness reported that after the shots, agents went to her residence, confiscated her cell phone, reviewed her recordings, and took the device.
• Seizure of surveillance: Police are accused of stealing the digital video recorders (DVRs) from nearby businesses and multiple cell phones.
• Forced entry: In one incident, agents allegedly used WhatsApp to pressure a local business owner, Ramón Emilio Abreu Corona, to open his electronics store, Tecnópolis. Upon arrival, the owner found the bodies on the pavement before agents entered the shop and seized the DVR from his security camera system. Police were also reportedly heard telling the owner, “You don’t know what you saved yourself from.”
The 11 accused officers include a major, a captain, a second lieutenant, two corporals, and a private, all from specialized investigative units. The preliminary hearing for the pretrial detention request was adjourned until Thursday, 9 October 2025, at 9am, to allow the defense teams more time to review the extensive evidence presented.
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Jamaica Gleaner
DR1 News
6 October 2025