A six-minute, 29-second video in which William Noel Rivera Sánchez, a 45-year-old bail bondsman, blamed an alleged money dispute and confessed to killing two men set off a criminal sequence spanning Ponce, Santa Isabel and Guayama. Police Superintendent Joseph González said at a press conference at Police headquarters in Hato Rey that both killings are tied to a single suspect, and that the crimes claimed three lives.
On Thursday night, investigators say, Rivera Sánchez killed former activist Félix Plaud, 45, on a lot at the end of Laporte street in the Borinquen neighborhood of Guayama, then recorded a first confession he did not immediately post. On Friday around 10:50 AM, he shot criminal defense attorney Luis A. Quiñones González at an intersection of avenida Las Américas in Ponce after the lawyer left the Ponce court, firing multiple shots with two firearms.
Quiñones González’s wife, who was driving ahead, witnessed the attack through her rearview mirror, fired shots at the attacker as she left, and with bystanders’ help took her husband to a hospital, where he died. Rivera Sánchez then went to his Santa Isabel residence, posted both videos, and took his own life with one of his licensed firearms.
Police found him dead in his apartment after a forced entry. Court documents confirm a money dispute between Rivera Sánchez and Plaud involving a recognized debt of more than $100,000. González stressed Rivera Sánchez’s allegations are being examined and not corroborated by police.