According to Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día, Calle 13 singer/rapper René Pérez Joglar’s uncle was shot and killed outside a school Thursday night in Río Piedras, a suburb of San Juan. Joglar – better known as Residente – released the following statement:
“Me uno a mi familia Joglar y la gran pérdida de nuestro querido tío ‘Tito’, víctima de la ola criminal que se vive en Puerto Rico. Qué tristeza tan grande.”
A homicide investigation is underway, however police say they do not yet have a motive for the shooting. News of this killing comes roughly a year after the New York Times published a story on Puerto Rico’s steadily worsening murder rate, which reached an all-time high last November. According to the AP, 579 killings have been reported this year alone on the island of 4 million people, compared with 704 killings in the same period last year.
Our thoughts are with Rene and his family.