Christopher Martin Colombia presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot three times at a campaign event in Bogotá on Saturday. Two of the three shots were to his head, the other to his neck. The 39-year-old’s condition is said to be critical at an intensive care unit in Santa Fe Foundation hospital.
A 15-year-old suspect remains in police custody after being apprehended at the scene in the neighborhood of Modelia. He was arrested carrying a “9mm Glock-type firearm”, a statement from the attorney general’s office said. The suspect was shot in the leg as police and security officers pursued him following the attack.
Uribe’s party, Centro Democratico, who he has represented as a member of the Senate since 2022, condemned the “serious attack” on social media platform X.
Videos circulating on the social media, which the Herald has seen, show Uribe speaking at the event, before shots are fired and panic ensues for those gathered.
Another video shows the suspect limping as he flees the scene, shooting back at the police as many gather chasing to apprehend him.
In a statement on X, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said: “My solidarity with the Uribe family and the Turbay family. I don’t know how to mitigate their pain.”
Uribe is the grandson of former President Julio César Turbay Ayala (1978–1982) and the son of journalist Diana Turbay, who in 1991 was abducted by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel and tragically killed when a rescue operation went wrong. With Colombia’s presidential elections taking place next year, Uribe announced his candidacy in October at the site of his mother’s death.
