Shortly before noon this Monday, at the corner of Aries and Camino Guerra, just meters from Route 8 in Punta de Rieles, an 18-year-old criminal arrived on a motorcycle at a butcher shop. There, a man was delivering goods. The young man threatened him and demanded a bag with 32 thousand pesos. The worker handed over the money. Immediately afterward, he identified himself as a police officer, shouted for him to stop, drew his service weapon, and fired twice.
The robber was hit in the chest. He was out of danger, was taken to the Malinas clinic, and was arrested. A .22 caliber revolver with live ammunition, ready to fire, and the motorcycle were seized. The police officer was unharmed.
This sequence is important. The officer did not shoot right away. He handed over the money, identified himself, gave the legal order, and only then used his weapon. He acted as what he is: a public servant who, faced with an armed threat, first followed protocol and then fulfilled his obligation to defend himself and prevent the crime from being completed.
The criminal was not a desperate kid asking for some change. He arrived with a loaded revolver to rob a worker in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. That is not a youthful mistake. It is a premeditated act of violence against someone who was working. The police officer did not improvise or exceed his authority. He used force after warning and after the aggressor had already displayed the threat. This is called self-defense and, in the case of an officer, also the exercise of duty.
In Montevideo, delivery workers live with the daily risk of someone on a motorcycle putting a gun in their face to take the cash or the vehicle. Many suffer in silence. Some end up injured. Others, dead. This officer, who in addition to being a police officer makes deliveries to make ends meet, did not remain in the victim's place. He took the initiative. He prevented the robber from leaving with the money and with the certainty that crime pays.
There are those who will prefer to talk about "excess" or "institutional violence" as soon as it is known that the injured party is 18 years old. It is an automatic and mistaken reflex. Age does not transform someone who points a loaded gun at a worker into a harmless person. Nor does it make the response of someone who is authorized and trained to use force when their life or that of others is in danger illegitimate. The state cannot ask police officers to allow themselves to be robbed when they are off-duty and then complain about insecurity.
What happened in Punta de Rieles is not an isolated picturesque event. It is the concrete demonstration that when an armed criminal encounters someone who is not willing to surrender, the outcome changes. The police officer did not seek confrontation. He resolved it. He handed over the bag, identified himself, shouted for him to stop, and fired. Twice. The robber is still alive and detained. The officer is still intact. The money did not leave. The criminal's weapon was confiscated.
That is not abuse. It is order functioning, even if only for a while and at a corner in Punta de Rieles. In a country where robberies of workers have become routine, the actions of this police citizen do not deserve nuances or inverted condolences. They deserve support. Because he did exactly what is expected of someone who swore to uphold the law: not to be subdued.
