Wife killed after hostage stand-off
An hours-long attempt by a National Police (PN) negotiator to persuade a Venezuelan man armed with a knife and barricaded in a bathroom with his estranged pregnant wife and a five-year-old stepson to surrender, ended in tragedy on Monday, January 21 when the killer cut the throat of the 27-years-old, and she became Panama Oeste’s first femicide of the year.
The murder of Venezuelan Anghely Katherine Reyes occurred inside a house in the Altos de El Tecal residential area of Vista Alegre, in Arraiján.
Neighbors of the victim, who had a court protection order forbidding her husband to approach the home said that the events began around 4:00 am., reports La Critica.
Darwin Eduardo Duque Sánchez,26, a former member of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, armed with a knife entered the house from the roof. He had been evicted days before by the Primary Care Prosecutor of Arraiján.
Inside the house, in addition to his wife and the child were two Panamanians, who left unharmed.
The Police negotiator tried for several hours to persuade the hostage taker to allow the child to leave and to surrender.
Duquet Sánchez finally let the child go free and the Police SWAT team used the diversion to move into the house,
The former soldier cut his partner’s throat and tried to take his own life by cutting his neck. Both were taken to the Nicolás Alejo Solano hospital in La Chorrera where the victim died. Sánchez is in serious but stable condition.
