A 15-year-old boy accused of trying to assassinate Colombian Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has pleaded “not guilty”, the prosecutor’s office said.
The teen was formally charged on Tuesday with the attempted murder of 39-year-old conservative presidential candidate Uribe, who was shot in the head on Saturday and is fighting for his life in critical condition in hospital.
The teenager – who police believe was a “sicario” or hitman working for money – was also charged with carrying a firearm.
“No family in Colombia should be going through this,” Uribe’s wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, told reporters outside the hospital where her husband is being treated.
“There is no name for this – it’s not pain, it’s not horror, it’s not sadness,” she said.
The senator’s father, Miguel Uribe Londono, thanked the “millions of Colombians and people around the world for their prayers”.
“Miguel, amidst the pain and dismay that overwhelms us, has managed to unite this country in a single voice that rejects violence,” his father added.
It is not known why Senator Uribe, who was vying for the candidacy of his party, was attacked. He was polling well behind other party candidates at the time of the shooting.
Footage from the scene of the shooting showed Uribe addressing supporters in the west of the capital Bogota when a youth rushed towards him firing at least eight shots. Uribe was hit twice in the head and once in the leg.
The alleged attacker was apprehended by security guards and a Glock 9mm pistol was recovered.
In a video of the teen’s capture, independently verified by the Reuters news agency, the suspect can be heard shouting that he had been hired by a local drug dealer.
An earlier video showed that as the suspect, who was wounded, attempted to escape the scene, a voice could be heard shouting, “I did it for the money, for my family.”
But in court, the teenager rejected charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm, the attorney general’s office said. If convicted, he faces up to eight years in a rehabilitation centre, not prison, as he is a minor.
Also on Tuesday, Colombia was rocked by bomb and gun attacks in the country’s southwest where at least seven people were killed in a wave of violence that echoed earlier decades when attacks by armed fighters, paramilitary groups and drug traffickers were common.
The bomb and gun attacks were likely caused by an armed group that splintered from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, according to the army and police.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, meanwhile, has broadly pointed the finger at an international crime ring as being behind the attack on Uribe, without providing details or evidence.
Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti suggested there may be a link with the assassination attempt as rebels have increasingly turned to drug trafficking to finance their activities, though he did not provide evidence.
President Petro has ordered beefed-up security for government officials and opposition leaders in response to the attacks.
Uribe had been a staunch critic of Petro’s security strategy, aimed at ending six decades of armed conflict, arguing that Petro’s approach of pausing offensives on armed groups despite the failure of peace talks only backfired.
The senator had two government-provided bodyguards protecting him at the time of the shooting, the head of the National Protection Unit said.
Uribe’s lawyer, Víctor Mosquera, said his client had repeatedly asked for more bodyguards.
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