Honduras' former youth minister shot to death

Police say gunmen have fatally shot Honduras' former youth minister Marco Julio Trochez. A communique from Honduras' police department says the attackers escaped.

The statement said that Trochez was shot by three gunmen yesterday as he drove up to his apartment building in La Ceiba about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of Tegucigalpa on the Atlantic coast. He was hit by at least seven bullets.

A friend who was struck by four bullets was hospitalised in satisfactory condition.

Trochez was government youth minister under President Porfirio Lobo Sosa's administration from 2010-2014. He has numerous businesses in his hometown of La Ceiba.
 

The government says that at least 14 people are killed daily in Honduras. The homicide rate last year was 57 for every 100,000 people.