Surveillance footage from Ecuador shows armed assassins disguised as police officers storming a football pitch and executing three alleged gang members in a targeted attack.

The attack happened around 9:30 p.m. on January 7 at a football field inside a golf club complex in Isla Mocolí, an upscale residential area near Samborondón in Ecuador’s Guayas province. Video shows several men playing soccer when gunmen dressed as police enter the pitch with assault rifles. The players immediately drop to the ground as the attackers search for their targets.

One man, later identified as 40-year-old Stalin Rolando Olivero Vargas, also known as “Marino,” was singled out, beaten while on the ground, and shot at close range. The gunmen fled moments later. Two additional bodies were later found nearby, bringing the death toll to three.

Authorities said Vargas was believed to be the leader of the criminal gang Los Lagartos. The other two victims also had prior criminal records involving weapons, drugs, and violent offenses. Ecuador’s interior minister described the killings as a targeted execution rather than a random act.

Investigators believe the attackers overpowered local security guards before the assault and may have targeted Vargas after he allegedly attempted to switch allegiances to a rival gang. Police say the victims did not live in the gated community and had been invited there by an unidentified individual.