Police officer gets three months of pretrial detention over killing in La Vega

A police major is held in pretrial detention after a young man being chased in La Vega was shot dead, a case now moving through the courts.

A judge in La Vega ordered three months of pretrial detention for police Major Robin Rafael Márquez Payano, charged in the death of Marqui Abraham García Gil, 25. The measure was imposed by the Permanent Attention Office in La Vega.

García Gil was sought for a robbery at a sports betting shop in the Villa Rosa sector of La Vega on May 25. According to the investigation, he and his partner, Sulema Violeta De León Abreu, along with another man identified as Anthony Osoria, took the establishment's safe containing RD$244,750 and a 9 mm blank-firing gun. An arrest warrant was issued against him.

On June 13, 2026, at about 12:40 p.m., another sports betting shop in La Vega was robbed at gunpoint. The thieves took a vehicle and RD$383,262.50, along with ten-peso coins. Through analysis of security camera footage, García Gil was identified as one of the alleged direct perpetrators.

According to the official version, the officer tried to carry out the arrest warrant in the El Hatico sector, in the El Bolsillo alley. When he saw the agents, García Gil ran into his family's yard and, according to that account, threw a firearm into a neighboring yard and confronted the officer chasing him. The officer shot him with his service weapon. García Gil died while being treated at Dra. Armida García Hospital in La Vega. El Nacional, meanwhile, reported that the victim had surrendered with his hands raised, a version that does not appear in the official information.

The La Vega Prosecutor's Office, led by prosecutor Aura Luz García Martínez, classified the case as a violation of articles 295 and 304 of the former Dominican Penal Code, which define voluntary homicide with a firearm. García Gil was also linked to a separate case involving shots fired at police officers on April 7, 2026.