Suspect killed as vigilante violence spirals

Authorities said a mob beat a suspected criminal to death and threatened to burn three women who were with the victim. It was Guatemala’s fifth vigilante killing in three days.

Hours later, police rescued three men being threatened by an angry crowd in another part of the poor Central American country, where people frequently take justice into their own hands in remote areas.

The National Civil Police said the latest deadly attack occurred in Panahachel, about 90 miles east of the capital Guatemala City, where a mob fatally beat a man thought to be a criminal.

Officials said the crowd also doused petrol on three women accompanying the victim and threatened to set them on fire, but the women were rescued by police officers.