President of Guatemalan Constitutional Court Killed

The president of Guatemala’s Constitutional Court was shot and killed Friday night outside his home in Guatemala City as he returned with his family from a Holy Week celebration, a court spokeswoman said Saturday.

No one claimed responsibility for the shooting by unidentified gunmen who were believed to have opened fire from a vehicle about 10:45 p.m.

Epaminondas Gonzalez, 61, was shot in front of his wife and 8-year-old son as they returned from a celebration in Antigua, a town 25 miles from Guatemala City, Constitutional Court spokeswoman Claudia Arriaza said.

Gonzalez was rushed to a hospital, where he died 30 minutes later, Arriaza said. His wife and son were not injured.

Gonzalez, a prominent Guatemalan lawyer, had been president of the five-member Constitutional Court, the country’s highest legal body, which rules on the constitutionality of laws approved by Congress. His one-year term as president of the court was due to end April 12.

Gonzalez gained national respect last May when he ruled that former President Jorge Serrano’s attempt to seize near-dictatorial powers was unconstitutional.

The court’s decision was a decisive blow to Serrano’s bid for one-man rule.

Observers say the killing of Gonzalez further undermines the fragile administration of President Ramiro de Leon Carpio, which has lurched from one political crisis to another since he assumed office in June.