An unknown assailant gunned down news presenter Víctor Fúnez Solis outside his home in the port city of La Ceiba in northern Honduras in the early hours of June 15, 2017. Fúnez, also known as “El Masa,” hosted a nightly news program, “Informe Nocturno”, that aired on a local channel. He was also the governing National Party’s candidate to represent the Atlántida department in congressional elections set for November 2017.

Fúnez had returned home from a bar when an attacker wearing a motorcycle helmet approached and shot him. The attacker then removed something from Fúnez’s pockets before fleeing on a motorcycle. Police arrested a suspect hours later and recovered the weapon and motorcycle allegedly used in the murder. A video posted online appeared to show the suspect confessing to the murder, but the following day the suspect said that police beat him and forced him to confess. A local press freedom group said that Fúnez had received multiple threats over his reporting, but the motive for his shooting was not immediately known.