Nicaraguan police chief sentenced to 11 years after family massacre

Head of a counter-narcotics patrol of the Nicaraguan Police, captain Zacarias Salgado, was sentenced to 11 years behind bars on Thursday for killing three people and injuring two more during a shootout in a rural area of the capital on July 11.

Salgado was the leader of a patrol carrying out a counter-narcotics operation at night on the outskirts of the city, south of Managua.

Salgado's patrol shot at a car which didn't pull over at a stop sign because the driver thought there was going to be a robbery.

In the police attack, a 25-year-old woman and two children aged 11 and 13 were killed while the other two kids were seriously injured.

Salgado had mistaken the vehicle for a similar one allegedly used to transport drugs, according to local media.

Apart from the jail sentence, Salgado was suspended from duty and banned from carrying arms for 20 years for reckless injuries and manslaughter.

Two lieutenants were sentenced to nine and six years in jail for the crime of involuntary manslaughter, injuries and damage.

The rest of the patrol members also received suspensions from duty and were banned for carrying weapons for a number of years ranging from two to nine depending on their role in the attack.

The family of the victims was not present when the verdict was read in Managua's court building. Endi