The Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area once again becomes the scene of shootings, blood, and death. On Thursday afternoon, the town of Castelar (Morón district) was the epicenter of a new armed confrontation between motorcycle thieves and an officer of the City Police. The result: a 22-year-old criminal dead, another on the run, and a citizenry that remains hostage to a policy of erratic and absent provincial security.
The incident occurred just days after the case that shocked the country: the tragic death of Thiago Correa, a 7-year-old boy who was shot in the head during another shootout between a federal officer and assailants in Ciudad Evita. In this context of escalating violence, the silence of the provincial government is deafening.
El casco del policía baleado.
In Castelar, the exchange of gunfire took place at the intersection of Munilla and Merlo. The officer, 45 years old and a member of the Rapid Intervention Division (DIR) of the City Police, was on his way to report for duty on his Honda XR 190 motorcycle, dressed in plain clothes. At that moment, he was intercepted by two armed individuals on a white motorcycle of the same model.
According to his testimony, they attempted to rob him. In response, the officer identified himself as a police officer. Far from stopping the attack, the criminals opened fire, triggering an exchange of gunfire. The officer replied with his service weapon, a 9 mm Prieto Beretta.
Thiago Correa.One of the assailants was seriously wounded after being shot in the head and chest. He was taken to Güemes Hospital, where he died hours later. The victim was identified as Matías Uriel Aguirre, 22 years old, residing in Isidro Casanova. Identification was made possible thanks to a young woman who came to the crime scene. The second suspect managed to escape on the officer's motorcycle, abandoning his own.
The officer was unharmed, partly thanks to his helmet, which shows the visible mark of a bullet impact. The case is being handled by the Functional Instruction Unit No. 7 of Morón, led by prosecutors Matías Rappazzo and Hugo Ravizzini. The procedure was supervised by Chief Commissioner Omar Méndez. The Provincial Police, through the Seventh Police Station of Morón, is working to locate the fugitive.
However, the violence did not stop there. That same Thursday, in the town of Libertad, Merlo district, a sergeant of the Moreno Local Policewas attacked by two armed motorcycle thieves while riding a motorcycle with his mother. After identifying himself, another shootout ensued. An innocent neighborwas shot in the hand and had to be taken to Eva Perón Hospital. He is out of danger.
The assailants abandoned a Honda GLH 150 motorcyclewithout a license plate and with tampered numbering, and fled on foot. The investigation is in the hands of prosecutor Patricio Ventricelli, of UFI No. 6 of Morón, who ordered the intervention of the National Gendarmerie.
These incidents add to the aforementioned case in Ciudad Evita last Wednesday, in which a child died and a federal officer was charged with homicide with eventual intent. In that case, one of the criminals also died and there were two other injured individuals—one seriously—and one person was arrested. The Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area has become a territory dominated by armed crime, where even officers must risk their lives to survive.
