Teen accused of shooting Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe

UPI

7 hours ago

People participate in a walk for peace and in support of Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay in Bogota, Colombia, on Sunday. The senator was shot during a campaign event in Bogota. Photo by Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda/EPA-EFE
June 8 (UPI) -- Colombian police have arrested a teenage boy in connection with Saturday's shooting of far-right presidential candidate Miguel Uribe.
Uribe, a 39-year-old senator, was shot while he addressed his supporters during a campaign event in a park in Bogotá, the Colombian Attorney General's Office said in a statement Sunday. He was hit twice and remains in intensive care.
Two other people were also injured, and police arrested a 15-year-old who was carrying a 9mm Glock pistol. Footage shared on social media appears to show when Uribe was shot, causing his followers to flee in panic.
Fundación Santa Fe Bogotá, the hospital where Uribe was airlifted Saturday, said in a statement Sunday that he was admitted to the emergency room in critical condition.
"After all the evaluations by various specialties, he was immediately taken to surgery to perform the initial damage control," the hospital said. "Once the neurosurgical and left thigh procedures were completed, he was transferred to intensive care for postoperative stabilization. His condition is of the utmost seriousness and the prognosis is reserved."
The government of left-wing President Gustavo Petro, who is term-limited and cannot run for reelection, condemned the attack in a statement and expressed solidarity with Uribe.
"The National Government categorically and forcefully rejects the attack that Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was the victim of in the last few hours," the statement said.
"This act of violence is an attack not only against the personal integrity of the senator, but also against democracy, freedom of thought and the legitimate exercise of politics in Colombia."
Petro's government called peace, coexistence and respect for differences the "fundamental pillars" of a democratic society.
Prosecutors said they were considering the shooting an attack on the "democratic participation" in the country, and Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón expressed her alarm at the seriousness of the attack and urged for political unity in the country "to shield the electoral process."
She said her office would investigate the shooting with the National Police.