According to the Fox Sports report, Pacheco stopped at a gas station with friends around 3:30 a.m. before a separate group with guns opened fire. Three shots hit Pacheco; two of Pacheco’s friends were injured.
MORE: Sports figures we have lost in 2015
Pacheco made 86 appearances for the El Salvador national team — the most in the nation’s history. He scored seven goals for his country’s squad, most recently against Mexico during 2014 World Cup qualification.
Pacheco played with the El Salvadorian club team FAS (Club Deportivo Futbolistas Asociados Santanecos) from 2000 to 2010. He had 239 caps in that span and scored 31 goals. In 2009, he played in the MLS, on loan, suiting up for the Red Bulls.
In 2013, Pacheco — alongside 13 other soccer players — earned a lifetime ban for his involvement in an El Salvador match-fixing scheme.
According to a database from The Guardian, El Salvador is one of three countries (Honduras and Jamaica, also) with the “worst firearm murder rate” in the world. More than three-quarters of all homicides in the country occur by firearm.
