At least eight people died in violence in the Colombian department of Santander (northeast), where unknown assailants first killed four household members.
Then the community killed four of the first crime’s perpetrators, according to official sources.
The governor of Santander, Mauricio Aguilar, said that the events occurred in a rural area of the municipality of Landázuri, where suspected foreigners murdered teacher Álvaro Díaz and his wife Loiden Acuña and their children, aged 13 and 20, apparently in the context of a dispute.
An employee who worked in the house was injured but managed to escape and seek help from the community.
“The community took justice into their own hands and killed four of the alleged murderers. A fifth person is being sought who may be involved in these dreadful crimes,” the governor said in a video posted on his Twitter account.
Aguilar said that a commission had been appointed to investigate the incident and that a curfew had been imposed in the city to prevent public unrest.