A man identified as Emmanuel Pérez Estremera, 32, was shot dead, and his brother, Samuel J., 31, was shot, during the first day of the Hatillo Mask Festival, north of Puerto Rico, as reported by the police on Thursday.
The victims were members of one of the caravans that participated in the festival, which next year celebrates two centuries.
The shooting took place in the Ecomaxx garage, located on highway 492 in the Corcovada neighborhood, where the floats for the event marched.
On the other hand, four people were arrested, two of them for drugs and violating the Weapons Law, and another two for driving while intoxicated, according to the police report.
Likewise, another five people fell from several floats, two traffic accidents and another with a pedestrian were reported, and one person injured a hand after carrying out mechanical work on a float, the police detailed.
All the injured people were transported to different hospitals in the area to be treated, authorities said.
Similarly, agents from the Highway Patrol Division of the Arecibo area issued 177 complaints to drivers for violating Traffic Law 22, seized two motorcycles and the same number of pistols and a couple of bags of marijuana.
Some 6,000 people or “runners” from 168 groups, as well as 429 jeeps and floats, took part in the festival, which commemorates April Fool’s Day.
The Festival of Las Mascaras de Hatillo dates back to 1823, when immigrants from the Canary Islands (Spain) dressed up as women and demons, and visited the homes of family and friends on horseback to play pranks on them.
The first festival was formally organized in the 1970s to commemorate the historic event in which King Herod ordered the killing of all newborn males in order to kill Jesus of Nazareth.
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