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Suspect in Andrés Escobar murder killed in Mexico, decades after the footballer’s death shocked world football
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirms killing, links suspect to notorious 1994 crime
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Case revives memories of cartel-era violence, betting losses and football tragedy in Colombia
A man long linked to the 1994 murder of Colombian football legend Andrés Escobar has been shot dead in Mexico, Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed on Friday.
The suspect, Santiago Gallón Henao, had been investigated over the killing of Escobar, a central defender for Colombia’s national team who was murdered in Medellín days after scoring an own goal during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States.
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Escobar’s own goal in a group-stage match against the United States contributed to Colombia’s early elimination from the tournament, a result that reportedly led to heavy financial losses for criminal figures who had placed large bets on the team’s success.
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The footballer, aged 27 at the time, was shot dead on July 2, 1994, in a killing that stunned the global sporting community and highlighted the deep grip of drug-related violence on Colombia during that era.
Medellín was then under the influence of powerful drug cartels and recorded one of the highest murder rates in the world.
Investigators said Gallón and his brother confronted Escobar at a nightclub in Medellín just ten days after the World Cup match.
Their driver, Humberto Muñoz Castro, later admitted to shooting the footballer several times in the nightclub’s car park.
According to eyewitness accounts, Muñoz shouted “goal” after each shot.
He subsequently confessed to the killing and was convicted and sentenced to prison.
Although Gallón and his brother were never charged with murder, they were detained for about 15 months on allegations including obstruction of justice before being released without trial.
President Petro said in a post on X that Gallón was killed on Thursday in Mexico and described him as responsible for Escobar’s death, adding that the footballer’s murder “destroyed Colombia’s international image”.
A source at the Toluca prosecutor’s office told AFP that Gallón was shot dead inside a restaurant in Huixquilucan, a municipality in the State of Mexico.
Authorities have opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing.
Gallón and his brother were later included in a 2015 blacklist by the United States Treasury Department for alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
They were accused of being members of La Oficina de Envigado, a criminal organisation that emerged following the collapse of Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel.
More than three decades after Andrés Escobar’s death, the case continues to stand as one of football’s darkest chapters, where sport, organised crime and violence tragically collided.