Jorge Alberto Orellana

Televisión de Honduras

April 20, 2010, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Orellana, 50, also known as "Georgino," was shot by an unidentified gunman as he was leaving Televisión de Honduras studios around 9 p.m., according to local news accounts. The assailant fled on foot, the local newspaper Tiempo reported. The journalist was taken to Hospital Mario Rivas, where he was pronounced dead.

Orellana hosted the program "En Vivo con Georgino" (Georgino Live), which focused on local news, mostly related to cultural events, José Peraza, a reporter with Radio Progreso in San Pedro Sula, told CPJ. Orellana did not report on sensitive stories such as organized crime, Tiempo Editor Rubén Escobar said.

Before joining Televisión de Honduras, Orellana had worked for the newspaper La Prensa and the country's leading network Televicentro, Honduran media reports said. After the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in June 2009, Orellana left Televicentro because of discomfort with the station's editorial position in support of the interim government, local reporters said. Orellana was also a journalism professor at the National University of Honduras in San Pedro Sula.

On April 30, Honduran police arrested Jonathan Joseph Cockborn Delgado and accused him of killing Orellana. Police alleged that Cockborn, who was also wanted on unrelated weapons and theft charges, had committed the killing in the course of a robbery.

The next month, prosecutors announced that there was insufficient evidence to file charges against Cockborn in the murder. Cockborn remained in detention in connection with other alleged offenses.

Motive Unconfirmed: CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.