Around 8:45 p.m. more than 30 armed masked men ambushed the convoy in which Carpio was traveling on a rural road in Quiché. They shot him four times at point-blank range. They also killed three of his companions and then fled. Carpio died in a local hospital several hours later.

1997:
Juan Acabal Patzán, a member of the paramilitary Self-Defense Civil Patrols, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on October 5, 1997. The sentence was appealed.

On the same date also sentenced were brothers Marcelino and Nazario Tuy Taniel, to 5 years in prison, commutable.

Juan Acabal Patzán’s conviction was overturned on April 28, 1999.

Juan Acabal Patzán, Marcelino y Nazario Tuy Taniel.

Marcelino Tuy Taniel and Nazario Tuy Taniel had their sentences commuted on April 28, 1999. They were then released from prison.

Juan Acabal Patzán was released from prison after his sentence was overturned in 1999.

A political-military conspiracy is suspected.

On July 6, 2004 the government of Guatemalan President Oscar Berger acknowledged before the Inter-American Human Rights Court the government’s international responsibility in the murder and ordered financial reparations to be made to the journalist’s family.

On February 21, 1997 the IAPA submitted observations to the IACHR on the case No.11.333, which had already been accepted by the Commission.