SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — A retired Nicaraguan military officer turned outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortega was shot to death Thursday at his home in Costa Rica, authorities said.

Roberto Samcam, 67, had been living in exile since July 2018 when paramilitaries assaulted his home in Nicaragua.

Police say a man entered the condominium complex where Samcam lived northeast of the Costa Rican capital of San Jose and went directly to the retired major’s home around 7:30 a.m.

Without saying a word, the man shot Samcam multiple times with a 9 mm pistol, according to Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Organization. The shooter escaped.

Word of Samcam’s killing spread rapidly among the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans who have sought refuge in Costa Rica since Ortega cracked down on widespread protests in 2018.

In 2020, Samcam served as chain-of-command expert for the Court of Conscience, organized by Costa Rica’s Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, to collect testimony of those who suffered torture and other abuses.

— The Associated Press