The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic was shot and killed in his office by a close friend, a presidential administration statement informed.

Authorities said Orlando Jorge Mera was shot and killed by Miguel Cruz, who was apprehended, AP reported.

Jorge comes from a powerful political family. He is the son of former Dominican President Jorge Blanco of El Salvador, and his sister is a deputy minister in the presidential administration. Jorge's son is a deputy of the Party of Modern Revolutionaries, of which he himself was one of the founders.