Gunman shoots man dead inside auto parts store in Trujillo, Peru.
NEWS:
A gunman entered an auto parts store and repeatedly shot a 26-year-old man at close range in Trujillo, Peru, while an accomplice waited outside on a motorcycle.
The killing occurred at approximately 00:1:42 p.m. on May 4, 2026, inside Vera Autoboutique, located on the 17th block of Santa Avenue in the district of Trujillo.
The victim was identified as Brayan Cueva Oruna. He died inside the business before emergency responders could remove him from the scene.
Security video captures motorcycle attack
Security camera footage from the store records the entire attack.
The video shows Cueva inside the business shortly before a motorcycle carrying two people stops near the entrance. The passenger gets off, approaches the store and draws a handgun.
The gunman enters and fires repeatedly at Cueva from close range. The victim falls inside the establishment as the shots continue. The attacker then runs back toward the motorcycle, climbs on behind the driver and leaves the area.
The footage directly establishes that two people arrived together on the motorcycle, that one of them carried out the shooting and that both fled on the same vehicle.
The recording does not identify the attackers, establish who ordered the killing or reveal the motive. It also does not prove whether the motorcycle driver knew the complete plan before reaching the store, although investigators later treated the driver as a suspected participant.
Published accounts differed on the number of shots. Initial reports placed the total at more than 10, while another account said at least 15 rounds were fired. No publicly available forensic report containing the official number of gunshot wounds or recovered cartridges was located.
Police collect video and ballistic evidence
Officers from the Trujillo Emergency Squad and La Noria police station secured the business after the shooting.
Investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division collected spent cartridge cases and reviewed recordings from three surveillance cameras installed at the property. A representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office authorized the removal of Cueva's body to the Trujillo morgue for the legally required examination.
The attackers reportedly fled toward Villarreal Avenue after leaving the store. Police initially announced no arrests and did not publicly identify either man.
A subsequent report published on May 13 said officers had detained a teenager suspected of driving the motorcycle used in the killing. The teenager's identity was withheld because of his age.
The available reporting did not establish whether prosecutors sought juvenile detention, whether the teenager admitted participating or whether investigators identified the person who fired the gun. No public charging document or juvenile court decision connected to the case was located.
Police say victim had received threats
Ricardo Espinoza, head of the La Libertad Police Region, said Cueva had received death threats before he was killed.
The police chief also said Cueva had previously worked in Pataz, a province in the La Libertad region affected by illegal mining, extortion and organized criminal activity.
Authorities examined whether the homicide could have been connected to a conflict involving the criminal groups known as La Jauría and Los Pulpos. That possibility was presented as an investigative hypothesis, not a final determination of motive or responsibility.
Investigators had not publicly explained the nature of the reported threats, when they began, whether Cueva had filed a complaint or whether the threats specifically mentioned the auto parts business.
Sticker raises separate extortion question
During the investigation, police reportedly found a sticker bearing the name “Los Compadres” attached to the business.
Criminal organizations operating in northern Peru have used stickers, handwritten messages, phone calls, explosives and armed attacks to pressure businesses for extortion payments. In this case, however, authorities had not publicly established who placed the sticker or whether it was directly connected to the murder.
The sticker also carried a different name from the two organizations mentioned in the police chief's preliminary theory about the killing.
The presence of the sticker therefore opened an additional line of inquiry but did not prove that Los Compadres ordered the attack. It also did not establish that Cueva or the store owner had paid, refused or negotiated an extortion demand.
No public statement identified the legal owner of Vera Autoboutique or clarified whether Cueva owned the business, worked there or was assisting another person at the time of the shooting. Initial coverage described him both as a worker and as a person cleaning inside his establishment.
Killing occurred during emergency security measures
At the time of the homicide, Trujillo remained under emergency security measures imposed in response to killings, extortion attacks and organized crime activity.
By May 5, local reporting had counted 67 homicides across the La Libertad region during 2026. Twenty of those deaths had occurred in the province of Trujillo.
Those regional figures provide context for the security situation but do not establish that every homicide was related to the same organizations or criminal disputes.
In Cueva's case, the recorded facts are limited to the coordinated motorcycle arrival, the close-range shooting inside the store and the attackers' immediate escape.
The prior threats, the sticker found at the property, the victim's previous work in Pataz and the alleged involvement of criminal groups remained separate investigative elements. No final police report or court ruling publicly connected all of them into a confirmed account of who planned the murder and why.
News story written by DarkGore.
