{"id":520349,"date":"2026-08-08T17:36:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/hitmen-broke-into-a-hospital-in-costa-rica-and-murdered-an-inpatient\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:36:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:36:06","slug":"hitmen-broke-into-a-hospital-in-costa-rica-and-murdered-an-inpatient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/international\/hitmen-broke-into-a-hospital-in-costa-rica-and-murdered-an-inpatient\/","title":{"rendered":"Hitmen broke into a hospital in Costa Rica and murdered an inpatient"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two hitmen armed with AR-15<\/strong> rifles entered the La Anexi\u00f3n hospital<\/strong> in Nicoya<\/strong> at 3:00 a.m.<\/strong> this Saturday and executed an inpatient, an attack that also left an elderly woman wounded and occurred when the victim no longer had police custody, even though that measure had been previously ordered by the Guanacaste Prosecutor’s Office<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the medical center, judicial agents collected nearly 14 ballistic pieces of evidence<\/strong>, a sign of the intensity of the shooting in a patient care area. After the crime, the Public Force located the vehicle in which the suspects were traveling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to preliminary information from the Judicial Investigation Department (OIJ)<\/strong>, the attackers arrived by car, with their faces covered and carrying long guns. To enter, they threatened the hospital’s security guard and advanced to the observation room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recommend reading: Health alert to reinforce vaccination due to measles outbreak in the Americas<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

There they located Valverde Matarrita<\/strong>, 32, who was lying on a stretcher. The attackers shot him multiple times, mainly in the face and chest, and then fled the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victim was hospitalized for a leg injury and no longer had police custody<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The patient had been admitted to the hospital about two days earlier for an injury to one of his legs and was still hospitalized when he was located by the armed men. The investigation seeks to establish how they managed to reach the area where he was receiving care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ra\u00fal Rivera, general director of the Public Force<\/strong>, confirmed that the man had police protection ordered by the Guanacaste Prosecutor’s Office<\/strong>, but that this provision was lifted before the attack. In statements cited by Teletica.com<\/em>, he explained: \u201cTwo people entered, evading all security controls, and unfortunately committed a homicide against a patient who was at the location<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivera added, according to the media outlet, that \u201cthis person had custody ordered by the Guanacaste Prosecutor’s Office, which was subsequently removed.\u201d<\/strong> The inquiry regarding the reasons why that surveillance was no longer active at the time of the attack remains pending before the Prosecutor’s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other victim was an elderly woman who was shot in one of her buttocks during the shooting. According to the OIJ, the injury is not life-threatening and the patient remained stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The police found the car used by the attackers and the operation continues<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Public Force deployed an operation in the area to locate those responsible. <\/strong>Rivera confirmed that the authorities found the vehicle used by the men who entered the medical center to commit the homicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case remains open at the OIJ<\/strong>, which must now establish the motive for the attack, reconstruct the circumstances under which the armed incursion occurred, and identify all the people who participated. Valverde Matarrita’s body will be transferred to the Judicial Morgue for the corresponding autopsy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 left the third highest number of registered murders in the country<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Costa Rica reported 873 homicides in 2025, the third-highest record in its history.<\/strong> The rate reached 16.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Given this situation, the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) urged an increase in investment in prevention and human development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two hitmen armed with AR-15 rifles entered the La Anexi\u00f3n hospital in Nicoya at 3:00 a.m. this Saturday and executed an inpatient, an attack that also left an elderly woman wounded and occurred when the victim no longer had police custody, even though that measure had been previously ordered by the Guanacaste Prosecutor’s Office. Inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":520350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[44616,17355,44182,44617,16456,44582,43920,44615],"class_list":["post-520349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international","tag-broke-in","tag-costa-rica","tag-cover","tag-hitmen","tag-hospital","tag-newsletter","tag-patient","tag-they-murdered"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2bmJ","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/CBWWM56WUZDCRI3IF3WAYTF7OY.avif","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["International"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/CBWWM56WUZDCRI3IF3WAYTF7OY.avif"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}