When Alejo Leiva Lachner, a university student from San José, went to Guanacaste, Costa Rica for Spring break at the beach with friends, nobody ever imagined he’d never return.

Last March at Guanacaste’s Playas del Coco, what appeared to be a small disagreement between the students and a pirate taxi driver turned into a mob killing that stunned the entire country.

Five men are facing trial on accusations for their alleged participation in the attack on Leiva Lachner, said the Public Security Ministry this week.

The Criminal Court of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste received Monday a request to initiate the trial from the public prosecutor’s office. The court will now set a date to initiate proceedings.

What is known about the events of March 26, 2016 is basically that Leiva and a group of friends took a pirate taxi to a bar in Playas del Coco located in Sardinal de Carrillo. Upon getting out, apparently the taxi nearly swerved into one of the students, causing them to get upset with the driver, who then sped off.

Hours later, the students were warned by some locals in the bar that a gang was coming after them, but they paid them no heed. Indeed, it was true. Unluckily for Leiva Lachner, he was the only one of the group who didn’t manage to escape before the gang took out their revenge for what was perceived as an offense by the students earlier that night, according to police reports.

The five accused are Costa Ricans with the last names of Rivas Clark, Ortíz Vargas, Ovares Chevez and two brothers – named García Canales. The suspects were detained in the weeks following the mob attack at different times.

The public prosecutor’s office said that Leiva’s relatives have filed a civil suit seeking compensation for damages suffered when a knife wound to his chest caused his death soon after the attack at the bar.

One of the suspects, surnamed Ortiz, 33, known locally as La Bestia or The Beast, was captured in September 2016 in Tamarindo, in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste.

Leiva was the eldest of four siblings, an engineering student who loved surfing and windsurfing.

One of the García brothers is the driver of the pirate taxi with whom Leiva and his friends had the altercation.