A retired US lawyer filmed gunning down two eco-protestors on a Panama highway was pictured in jail handcuffed to a wall as he faces homicide charges.
Kenneth Darlington, 77, appeared before a court judge Iris García on Wednesday, a day after he was filmed shooting teachers Abdiel Díaz and Iván Rodríguez. The judge ordered the suspect to be held on pretrial detention for six months.
Darlington had finished running errands with his wife, Yessica Uribe, and a friend when they approached a traffic jam caused by the protest. Darlington reportedly told the women, ‘this ends here,’ before he stepped out of the vehicle and got into a heated argument with a group of men that included the two victims.
Film crews caught the moment the lawyer opened fire and killed the two educators.
Darlington then pleaded with his wife to drive from the scene, but she refused, leading to his arrest.
Retired lawyer Kenneth Darlington is seen handcuffed to a bar at a police station in Panamá on Tuesday moments after he gunned down two teachers at a protest
Abdiel Díaz (left) and Iván Rodríguez (right) were shot and killed Tuesday while protesting the Panamanian government’s new mining contract with a Canadian mining firm
Darlington, who was born in Panamá and holds U.S. citizenship, arrived at his court hearing escorted by a bevy of police officers and was brought into the courthouse through the rear side of the building while a group of teachers protested nearby.
He remained quiet as he was arraigned on homicide and illegal gun possession charges and didn’t show any signs of remorse, according to local media.
Eliécer Plicett, a lawyer who is representing the families of the victims, said Darlington’s defense attorney attempted to convince the judge that he showed weakness of old age and that he was not in the right mind to comprehend his actions.
Darlington’s attorney, Jorge Ceballos, asked the court for a psychiatric evaluation.
Local outlets reported that Darlington, if convicted, could possibly serve his sentence under home confinement because of his age.
This is the moment one of two environmental protesters blocking a road in Panama was shot dead by the irate driver, who had told people in the car he was in earlier: ‘this ends here’
Abdiel Díaz, the first man to be shot, is seen being treated on the ground by two bystanders
TVN reported Darlington asked several teachers who the leaders of the demonstration were. The protesting teachers told him that there were no leaders, so he replied: ‘I don’t want to talk to women. I want to talk to men.’
Darlington exchanged words with the demonstrators and then aimed and fired at the two men.
Diaz – the first victim who is seen on video wearing black t-shirt, blue hat and carrying a flag – fell to the ground immediately.
As another man in red backs away, Darlington opens fire again, hitting Mendoza, who was also wearing a black t-shirt. He can be seen holding his shoulder, grimacing in pain and staggering over to the side of the road where he falls down.
Díaz was pronounced dead on the scene and Mendoza died while he was being rushed to a local hospital.
Darlington is due back in court in Panama City on November 15.
He was arrested in 2005 after weapons – including an AK-47 and M-16 – were found in his Panama City apartment, but was acquitted after a court accepted his plea that the weapons were part of a collection.
He was also employed as a spokesman for Marc Harris, a Panamanian accountant who was jailed for 17 years in 2004 after being convicted of money laundering and tax evasion.
Darlington is arrested after shooting two protesters with a gun in the middle of a teachers’ blockade on the Pan-American Highway in Chame, Panama
Trucks are seen stranded near Sillimin, western Panama, on Tuesday as the protests entered their third week
Protesters hold a vigil on Wednesday night to remember the two teachers and climate change activists shot dead on Tuesday
Kenneth Darlington, 77, (seen Tuesday) appeared before a judge in the town of La Espiga on Wednesday afternoon, and after a two-hour hearing was remanded in custody
The deaths come as street protests by thousands of Panamanians during the past weeks over a new mining contract signed with Canadian mining firm First Quantum Minerals spilled into wider discontent with the government.
The protesters have for three weeks been campaigning against the Panamanian government’s agreement with the company, allowing it to operate Central America’s biggest open-pit copper mine for at least another 20 years with an option for another 20. The deal could net the government about $375 million in annual revenue.
The mine is in an environmentally sensitive area.
Road blocks set up by protesters have caused up to $80 million in daily losses to businesses, according to Panama’s association of company executives, with schools closed nationwide for over a week and more than 150,000 medical appointments missed.
Officials have urged people to end the protests, though construction workers’ and teachers’ unions have vowed to continue taking to the streets until the First Quantum contract is annulled.