Two policemen were sentenced to life in prison today for aggravated homicide, while two others received 15-year sentences for attempted aggravated homicide in connection to the ‘Monte Massacre’ case.

All four men had been found guilty in May for their involvement in the crime committed in May of 2019, when they chased and shot at a car, causing a crash that killed three teenage passengers and the adult driver in the Buenos Aires province town of San Miguel del Monte. 

In her ruling, judge Carolina Crispiani, from the Oral Court 4 (TOC) of La Plata, sentenced police officers Rubén García and Leonardo Ecilapé to life in prison. They were unanimously found guilty of homicide, aggravated on the grounds of abuse of their role as members of the police and the use of firearms, for the deaths of Danilo Sansone (13), Camila López (13), Gonzalo Domínguez (14) and Aníbal Suárez (22), and the attack on Rocío Quagliarello, the sole survivor, who was 13 at the time.

Officers Manuel Monreal and Mariano Ibáñez were sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of attempted murder, aggravated on the grounds of abuse of their role as members of the police force and the use of firearms. 

In a pre-sentencing hearing last week, the prosecutor and lawyers representing the victims’ families had requested life imprisonment for García and Ecilapé and a twenty-year sentence for Ibáñez and Monreal.

The reading of the sentence was broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the Buenos Aires Province Supreme Court of Justice.  

The events

The “Monte Massacre” happened in the early hours of May 20, 2019, when the officers pursued a Fiat 147 along Route 3 in San Miguel del Monte. Suárez was driving and López, Sansone, Domínguez and Quagliarello were passengers. 

They were listening to music when the police gave chase and, municipal security camera footage shows, started shooting at them. One officer can be seen hanging out of the side passenger’s window firing his weapon and one of the teenagers, Domínguez, was shot in the leg.

As a result, the car crashed into a truck, killing all except Quagliarello, who survived after spending 24 days in hospital.

During the trial, the lawyers representing the families of the victims agreed that what happened on the night of 20 May 2019 was a “brutal homicide” and an “unjustified killing”.

The officers’ defense lawyers maintained their innocence, blaming the events on the driver, Suárez, and argued that the officers acted “in the line of duty”. At the time, following the pleas at the trial, the police officers were given the opportunity to say their final words. They apologized to the families of Danilo, Camila, Aníbal and Gonzalo and gave them their “deepest condolences”, adding that they are not murderers.

-with information from Télam