Seven students mysteriously killed while hiking in Panama

Panama’s police arrested one person in connection with the shootings, but are still searching for the second gunman

Today's expression: Rule out
Explore more: Lesson #283
August 6, 2020:

On July 17, 13 Panamanian students went for a hike together, but only six returned alive. The six survivors confirmed that two gunmen attacked the group. Panama’s police arrested one person in connection with the shootings, but are still searching for the second gunman. Plus, learn the phrasal verb “rule out.”

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The mysterious killing of seven students in Panama

Lesson summary

Hi there, here we go again with another Plain English lesson. This one is lesson 283, which means you can find the full lesson—including the video and the transcripts—at PlainEnglish.com/283.

Coming up today: it’s a crime that has shocked Panama, and has left numerous questions in its wake. A group of 13 students went swimming at a lake in a rural province of Panama. Only six came back: the other seven were killed and left on the side of a trail in the woods. Lots of unknowns in this story. We have a phrasal verb, to “rule out.” Maybe you can imagine the context we use that in. Plus a song of the week. So let’s get going.

Mystery of students killed at Lake Gatún

Authorities in Panama are trying to unravel the mystery of how and why seven students were killed on their way back from a swimming trip. The gruesome killings have outraged and captivated the small Central American country, which is not accustomed to this type of violence.

Here’s what is known so far. On July 17, a Friday, a group of 13 students between the ages of 17 and 22 left their homes in the province of Colón to go swimming in Lake Gatún. Nine were all from the same area, while four were visiting from Panama City. They did not all know each other, but they arranged the trip via a WhatsApp group. In order to get to their destination, they had to hike through a forest. Only six came back from the trip. The parents of the seven others reported their kids missing after they had not come home that night. The next day, Saturday, a group of relatives and local residents searched for the missing students.

That is when they found the bodies of the seven missing students, four women and two men, abandoned on the path back from Lake Gatún. Five bodies were discovered in a bunker, while two were discarded in the area. The two outside the bunker were sisters. They all had gunshot wounds to the head; one had three additional gunshot wounds. The bunkers were dug in the area decades ago and are not actively used today.

Investigators asked the surviving students what happened. They said that two gunmen, one wearing a hood and the other a mask, attacked the group as they were finishing up at the lake. One of the gunmen fired a bullet into the air and separated the group into two: one group of seven (the ones who were killed) and another group of six (the ones who survived). The six survivors said they did not recognize either of the gunmen, but they noticed that one of them called one of the victims by name, suggesting that the gunman knew at least one of the victims.

Investigators took five of the victims to the crime scene to help re-construct what happened. The survivors provided a physical description of one of the gunmen, noting that he had a scar on his face. Based on that description, Panama’s police arrested an 18-year-old, also from Colón province and charged him with homicide, armed robbery, and kidnapping. The suspect will be held while police continue the investigation and look for the second gunman.

The suspect’s lawyer said his client was innocent and anyway didn’t match the description provided by the survivors. A judge ordered him detained while the investigation continues; the suspect appealed that decision to a higher court and lost the appeal.

Police and prosecutors haven’t revealed many details about a possible motive for the crime, but they ruled out any connection to drug trafficking.

The case raises a number of tricky questions. How is it possible, for example, that only two gunmen could corral a group of fourteen others? Why would the gunmen have separated the group into seven and six? That would leave one attacker against seven victims: even given the advantage of the gun, that would still be incredibly risky for the attackers to divide themselves like that. The suspect under arrest is eighteen years old. Could an eighteen year old with a gun really have controlled so many other people?

How did the attackers know that the students would be walking back through this area? What could their motive have been? And why did one of the gunman use the name of one victim? Why would the gunmen have killed seven people and left six witnesses? Is it a coincidence that the four students not originally from the Colón province—the visitors from Panama City—were among those who survived? The division of the group was not at random: the seven victims were all from one town, while the six survivors were from Panama City and another town. Could the six survivors and the two gunmen have planned this together, so as to frame the person now accused of the crime? To frame someone for a crime is to arrange or falsify evidence so that it appears that an innocent person committed the crime. Could that have happened here?

The crime—not just for its violence, but for its mystery—has distressed Panama. There are so many unanswered questions, which have led to wild speculation. This is one of the most violent crimes the country has suffered in recent years. Panama is generally safer than Colombia, its neighbor to the south, and is much safer than many other Central American countries.

Translations available

What a total mystery, and what a tragedy. We don’t want to jump to conclusions, but whenever there are big groups of young people and a terrible crime, you just wonder if there’s more to the story they’re not saying. If it’s about a relationship, a rivalry, pictures you don’t want getting out, things that seem important to young people and can quickly escalate out of control. Yikes.

Hey, quick reminder that you can find translations of the hardest words in this episode—words like “bunker” and “corral” and “gruesome” and “captivated” and so many others—translations for this lesson and all others are included as part of a Plain English Starter or Plain English Plus+ membership. Just visit our home page, PlainEnglish.com and click “Join” to sign up today.

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Expression: Rule out