Teenage shooter of Colombian presidential hopeful sentenced to seven years

Miguel Uribe, the 15-year-old shooter of Colombia’s presidential candidate, who was killed in August after being attacked in June, has received a seven-year juvenile detention sentence.

The teenager shot the right-wing politician in the head at a campaign event in Bogota, according to prosecutors’ a statement on Wednesday. The victim “must remain in a specialized care center for seven years, deprived of liberty.”

Because Colombian law forbids changing charges after they have been accepted by a minor defendant, the teen was charged with attempted murder and illegal possession of weapons, not homicide.

A 39-year-old opposition legislator died on August 11 from a cerebral hemorrhage after two months of intensive care in Bogota.

In Colombia, five presidential candidates were shot in the second half of the 20th century, which was akin to the worst years of political violence there.

Before the June 7 attack, video footage of Uribe addressing a rally in a working-class neighborhood of Bogota revealed gunshots. In the midst of hundreds of supporters’ screams, the bloody candidate fell.

Additional five people have been detained.

Before the candidate’s bodyguards could inflict wounds and detain the shooter, the minor shot Uribe three times, including twice in the head.