Just before midnight on September 15, 2023, four masked men dressed in all black walked down an alley just north of the main plaza in Santa Rosa de Copán, one of the largest municipalities in western Honduras.

From the darkness, one of them stepped into the light of a nearby streetlamp. He then stopped in front of the home of the environmental activist Ramiro Lara, pulled out a handgun, and fired 22 shots at the house.

Lara and his family were sleeping inside, and one of the rounds pierced an upstairs window, which had a Honduran flag draped to one side. More than a dozen other bullets pockmarked the white frame and brown painted wall just below it. When the police arrived early the next morning, they found a pile of spent shell casings scattered in front of the home.

Pay to Play: How One City’s Growth Fuels Corruption and Environmental Destruction in Western Honduras | Written and read by Parker Asmann.

Visit insightcrime.org for more information.