A key figure in charge of security in the Venezuelan capital Caracas was shot to death in an attack over the weekend, police sources told local media in Caracas.
Delio Hernandez Da Costa, the man in charge of the city's security plan, was in his car on Saturday when two armed men
gunned him down before escaping, the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal reported.
Hernandez, 38, was reportedly on his way to an inspection in the west of Caracas, one of the most dangerous areas of the Venezuelan capital, when he was attacked.
Between Friday night and Sunday alone, 36 people were killed in Caracas, including four policeman, according to figures compiled by local media.
Venezuela's government has not published crime statistics for several months.
Caracas' security plan, dubbed Caracas Segura, involved a boost in police presence on the streets of the capital, where the homicide rate is around 100 per 1,00,000 residents, according to the Venezuelan Observatory on Violence.
By comparison, according to the group, the worldwide average homicide rate is nine deaths per 1,00,000 residents.
At the beginning of 2009, the Venezuelan government claimed that the incidence of violent deaths fell 20 per cent in 2008 but provided no details.