The 2017 Lima shooting () was a

mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...

that began on February 17 and ended on February 18, 2017 at the Royal Plaza shopping center, located in a disputed area between the districts of Independencia and San Martín de Porres, and to a lesser extent in a sector of the district of Los Olivos, in northern

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. As a result of the event, 5 people lost their lives and 9 were injured. The perpetrator of the shooting was identified by the police as Eduardo Glicerio Romero Naupay, a 32-year-old man born in the city of

Huánuco Huánuco (; ) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Huánuco. The met ...

. Romero had previously served in the

Peruvian Navy The Peruvian Navy (, abbreviated MGP) is the branch of the Peruvian Military of Peru, Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Additional missions include ...

, where he obtained a license to bear arms. During the shooting, he was killed by Lorenzo Machaca Esquía, a 29-year-old non-commissioned officer who was in

civilian clothes ''Civilian Clothes'' is a surviving 1920 American silent comedy film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It stars Thomas Meighan and was directed by Hugh Ford. This film is based on the 1919 Broadway play, ...

at the time of the shooting. It is believed that the motive for the attack was the eviction of his mobile stand selling ''

salchipapa A ''salchipapa'' or ''salchipapas'' is a South American & Caribbean fast food dish commonly consumed as street food, typically consisting of thinly sliced pan-fried beef sausages and French fries, mixed together with a savory coleslaw on the sid ...

s'' and

hamburger A hamburger (or simply a burger) consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis ...

s, which had happened the day before because he was in a restricted area and did not have a license to operate as a vendor.

Background

One day before the shooting, Romero had been caught by municipal inspectors from Los Olivos selling food informally at a

food cart A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind. Food carts come in two basic styles. One allows the vendor to sit ...

, for which he was ordered to vacate the place where he worked and told to remove his products and cart. Hours before the attack the day after, Romero posted on his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

account at 3:19 p.m. stating that he planned to kill the inspectors who had evicted him.

Shooting

At 10:00 pm. on February 17, 2017, despite the warning given to him the day before, Romero continued to sell with his street vendor in the same place, resulting in the municipal inspectors of Los Olivos arriving. Martín Moreno Zavaleta, one of the inspectors, was tasked with removing Romero and reaching an agreement with him, but the situation escalated when they asked him to hand over his sales cart, telling him that he could pick it up at the warehouse. Once he had paid the fine that the cart would be given back to him. This prompted Romero to shoot Moreno, who was hit 3 three times to the leg, face and abdomen, mortally wounding him. In the midst of the commotion and chaos caused by the shots, Romero fled to the Panamericana Norte junction where he crossed the limits of the aforementioned districts heading to the Royal Plaza shopping center where he climbed the stairs and headed towards the nightclub area. Once there, Romero tried to enter the ''DiLuna'' nightclub, but a security worker did not allow him to enter. Romero then shot her, wounding her in the shoulder and neck. A security member of the nearby ''Zeven'' nightclub tried to help the woman but was also shot by the gunman, dying on the spot. Once inside the nightclub, Romero fired indiscriminately, injuring several people. He then left the nightclub and continued to shoot on the second floor of the establishment. However, one of the pistols he was carrying—the

Bersa Bersa is an Argentine firearms, arms manufacturer, located in the city of Ramos Mejía in Argentina.Bersa S.A. , Conta ...

—jammed, forcing him to leave it on the ground for a few moments. He pulled out the second pistol—the

Beretta Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta (; "Pietro Beretta Weapons Factory") is a privately held Italian firearms manufacturing company operating in several countries. Its firearms are used worldwide for various civilian, law enforcement, and military p ...

—to continue his attack. He then went to a restaurant and on the way shot Gloria Mostacero, who would become the third victim. After going around the second floor, Romero went down the stairs and continued shooting at a fast food business, killing one. He also opened fire on a kiosk saleswoman, who was uninjured. He then entered a Banco de Crédito bank branch where he fatally shot Nicole Muñoz Peña, a business administration student, who tried to flee by taking refuge in the bank's ATM area. At that moment, the plainclothes policeman Lorenzo Machaca Esquía confronted Eduardo, shooting him in the head and at the front door of the bank. The wounded were taken to a nearby clinic where two more people died.

Victims

5 people (including the perpetrator) were killed and 10 were injured in the attack. A week later, Martín Moreno Zavaleta, who had been shot three times by Romero and had been in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

, died of

cerebral infarction Cerebral infarction, also known as an ischemic stroke, is the pathologic process that results in an area of necrotic tissue in the brain (cerebral infarct). In mid to high income countries, a stroke is the main reason for disability among peo ...

Killed

* César Arellano Chumacero, 32. * Susan Juárez Pilco, 28. * Martín Moreno Zavaleta, 51. * Gloria Mostacero Cruz, 25. * Nicole Muñoz Peña, 19. * Eduardo Romero Naupay, 32. (perpetrator)

Injured

* Edeth Evangelista Hijar. (Shot in the right leg) * Esperanza López Luján. (Shot in the abdomen) * Fernanda Valverde Ramírez. (Shot in the lung and right arm) * Franz Randolf Daga. (Shot in the abdomen) * Gloria Estefany Valdes Taipen. (Shot in the head) * Mary Gavilán Huamán. (Shot in the head) * Noemí Huamanta Coyaton. (Shot in the thorax and abdomen) * Octavia Morales Anton. (Shot in the neck) * Silvia Sánchez García. (Shot in the right hand)

Perpetrator

Eduardo Glicerio Romero Naupay (

, March 29, 1985 —

, February 17, 2017), 31, was identified as the perpetrator. He was born in Huánuco and was of Colombian descent. His father committed suicide when he was younger and that caused him to suffer from depression. When he was older he decided to move to Lima and served in the Navy, where he learned to use weapons, and later worked as a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

, where he obtained his own weapon by falsifying his mental health certificate. After losing his job as a security guard, he decided to start working as a street vendor, getting a food cart by his own means, with which he decided to start working in a restricted area where he was caught several times by municipal inspectors until the shooting. According to his friends, he suffered a certain sexual and social frustration with women, had an advanced superiority complex as he supported

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

and repudiated

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, was attracted to the

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

and

satanism Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, or philosophical beliefs based on Satan—particularly his worship or veneration. Because of the ties to the historical Abrahamic religious figure, Satanism—as well as other religious ...

, collected weapons and admired a local hitman. He was also considered a quiet and reserved person, he listened to metal music and was reportedly addicted to Clemente Palma's novels, especially ''Cuentos malévolos'', as confirmed by the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

when they raided his house. Members of Romero's family said that "he was withdrawn and uncommunicative." Online, his actions were celebrated by groups and Facebook pages of which he was a member. One group nicknamed him the "Peruvian ''Fede''" after Federico Guevara, who committed the Monterrey shooting a month earlier. Romero was buried in the Parque del Recuerdo de los Jardines del Buen Retiro Cemetery, located in Puente Piedra. Only ten people attended the funeral.

Reactions

During a press conference Peruvian President

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard (; born 3 October 1938), also known simply as PPK (), is a Peruvian economist, public administrator, and former politician who served as the 59th President of Peru from 2016 to 2018. He served as Prime Minister of ...

said that there was a "lack of control of clandestine pistols", alluding to the shooting. Lorenzo Machaca Esquía, the policeman who killed Romero, was awarded by Kuczynski. Machaca later claimed that he received constant threats through Facebook and other media. A week after the attack, he was reported to police by his wife, who accused him of

domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

References

External links

Report by Latina Noticias that includes footage of the event
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lima shooting, 2017 21st-century mass murder in Peru 2010s mass shootings in South America 2017 mass shootings Attacks in South America in 2017 Spree shootings in South America 2017 murders in Peru Deaths by firearm in Peru Mass murder in 2017 February 2017 in South America February 2017 crimes in South America 2017 shooting

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

Independencia District, Lima San Martín de Porres District Los Olivos District Attacks on restaurants in South America Attacks on shopping malls Attacks on nightclubs Attacks on bank buildings Attacks on buildings and structures in Peru Attacks on buildings and structures in 2017