QUITO: A woman who once represented Ecuador in Miss Universe was shot dead in broad daylight while enjoying breakfast with a partner at a shopping complex in Ecuador.
Landy Párraga Goyburo, who was selected as Miss Ecuador in 2022, was shot dead during a trip to the La Quadra shopping centre in the El Guayacan parish of Quevedo on Sunday morning.
Based on a report by the "Mirror UK", a video footage of the incident showed two men sneaking up to the pair, before one of them pulled out a gun and fired six shots at the 23-year-old woman.
Her partner quickly dropped to the floor and ducked for cover next to her.
According to the "Daily Mail", both men were armed with guns. In the aftermath, newsportals reported that the former model's body was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, with a bullet hole on her right thigh.
It added that investigations are ongoing to identify the motive of the killing and those responsible.
Párraga was a former Miss Ecuador in the Miss Universe beauty pageant, having represented her country's Los Ríos Province in 2022.
"Párraga was the owner of a household goods importing company, and ran her own sportswear line. She had more than a million followers across her social media accounts," one report said.
The online portals also reported that in December last year, the Ecuadorian Attorney-General's Office revealed her name in a conversation between suspects of a major organised crime syndicate under investigation.
