Police in the Dominican Republic are yet again at the center of a scandal after a cellphone video captured two officers gunning down a pair of suspects as they lay on the ground.
The incident took place outside of a military fortress in Valderde Mao, a region in the country's northeast, with local authorities initially alleging that the two suspects perished after a "fire exchange" with plain-clothed officers.
The video starts with the narrator saying, "the cops here are killing a bunch of dudes, the police here in Mao are gunning these cats down," meanwhile a woman can be heard wailing in the background.
According to the large-circulation Caribbean daily Diario Libre, the two dead suspects were alleged members of a criminal gang responsible for a string of robberies around the country and for the murder of a Haitian national.
Although an execution in broad daylight would shock the citizens of most countries, Dominican netizens appear largely to be defending the actions of the officers in Valverde Mao, with one writing that they should be immediately "promoted and given a medal."
Another citizen pointed out that the suspects would have simply been let out of jail within three months, that gunning them down was the most sensible long-term solution to the crime problem facing the country.
Others decried the fact that police only execute low-level gangsters, leaving the top-level guys, the politicians, to continue committing crimes with impunity.
Police in the Dominican Republic have just publicly executed two people, with video evidence, but there will be no riots, no one coming out to cry racism; the suspects will simply remain dead and the police will continue killing while the citizenry applauds.
