This case adds to an alarming series of similar incidents involving members of the security forces confronted by motorcycle thieves in Greater Buenos Aires. On June 12, in Castelar, an officer from the City Police shot dead an armed assailant while on his way to work. Ten days later, in Merlo, a Bonaerense officer replied with two shots during an attempted armed robbery.
In Morón, a former sub-prefect of the Federal Penitentiary Service killed a 14-year-old criminal who tried to rob him with several accomplices. Days later, in Moreno, a City Police officer shot and killed another 15-year-old thief who attacked her on her way to work.
The most shocking case occurred in Ciudad Evita, where federal agent Facundo Aguilar Fajardo was approached by four criminals. He fired eleven times, killing one of the assailants and wounding two others, but also tragically struck Thiago Correa, a 7-year-old boy who was waiting for the bus with his father 656 feet (200 meters) from the shootout. The child died two days later.
Initially charged with simple homicide with eventual intent, Aguilar Fajardo was released after the intervention of the Guarantee Judge No. 3 of La Matanza, who changed the charge to manslaughter, aggravated homicide with excessive self-defense, and serious injuries in ideal concurrence, considering that the officer could not have foreseen such distant harm from the scene of the confrontation.
