Venezuelan prosecutors to probe killings by police

Caracas, Aug 14 (EFE).- Two prosecutors will lead an investigation into the role of police in the violent deaths of four people in the northern state of Aragua, the Venezuelan Attorney General's Office said Friday.

"The death of the four men would have occurred during a procedure carried out on Aug. 5 by police officers in Aragua state" in the town of San Vicente, the AG office said in a statement.

For the past few hours a video lasting around 2 minutes has gone viral on social networks showing three bodies on the ground and several Aragua police officers getting out of a red SUV with a young man in custody.

Soon afterwards a blast is heard and the youth, who had been restrained by two cops, falls to the ground. Later more shots are heard and one of the policemen is seen pouring water on the detainee.

The AG office identified the fatalities as Omar Efren Ramirez Ibarra, 26, Nicolas Manuel Salgado Silva, 35, Douglas Ernesto Bolivar Reyes, 24, and Leonardo Alfredo Noguera Rubio, 21.

Aragua Gov. Tareck El Aissami spoke about the case Thursday at a public event.

"A video is going around out there that could compromise the work of our police officers," he said, and warned that the state governor's office will not permit "old deceptions from the past."

"We need peace, but peace under the law, with justice, not the peace of violence, of crime, of trampling on the poor," he said.

Venezuela's national ombudsman, Tarek William Saab, said on his Twitter account that El Aissami told him Thursday that "the five alleged killers of the youth" have been handed over to the prosecutors and would soon be arraigned.