Three teenagers were murdered in this week in Medellin in apparent gang related attacks, various media reported.
Two of the youths, 19-year-old rapper Luis Felipe Florez and his 17-year-old cousin, were reportedly killed by three gunmen in Comuna 13, a neighborhood in Medellin.
A friend of the victims said, “Six of the boys and girls that were with them fell to the floor, while Luis Felipe and his cousin ran and were the only victims of this shooting, attributed to gang members of the sector of Las Independencias,” reported newspaper El Colombiano.
Florez was taken to the Intermediate Unit at the San Javier hospital, but he was tranferred to a hospital in Belen because of his critical condition. He was pronounced dead shortly after admission. His cousin died at the scene of the attack.
Authorities arrested a suspect Thursday, a 26-year-old member of the gang “Independencia,” which is known for bloody fights with other rival gangs in the area, newspaper El Espectador reported.
A member of the rap group Guerreros de la Calle (Street Warriors), Florez had “participated in various cultural events sponsored by the police in this sector and other neighborhoods of Medellin and had recorded, with their resources, a CD,” said his mother. His death marks the sixth murder of rappers in Comuna 13 in the last few months.
His cousin was an avid soccer player and fan. He had been called to train with a lower division Medellin soccer team and had aspirations to play with Deportivo Independiente Medellín.
In a seemingly unrelated incident, 18-year-old Samuel Marin Agudelo was traveling home from school Tuesday when he from was pulled from a bus and shot to death. Family members said he had no known threats.