Buenos Aires police officer kills suspected robber in La Plata; officer detained
A Buenos Aires provincial police officer shot and killed a 45-year-old man in Tolosa during a suspected robbery attempt. The off-duty officer was taken into preventative custody.
Off-duty police officer kills man in La Plata during suspected robbery
An officer with the Buenos Aires Provincial Police killed a 45-year-old man in the early hours of Saturday in the Tolosa neighbourhood of La Plata, according to infoblancosobrenegro.com. The agent claimed to have acted in response to a robbery attempt using the "motochorro" method. By judicial order, he was taken into preventative custody.
Residents of the area between 12th Street and streets 526 and 527 made several calls to 911 to alert authorities to gunfire in the public street. Upon arrival, officers found a man lying on the asphalt without vital signs, alongside a Honda XR motorbike with its engine still running. The victim was identified as Heber Roberto Villarroel, 45 years old. Police forensics officers seized two spent 9-millimetre cartridge cases at the scene.
Shortly after the discovery, a 28-year-old youth presented himself voluntarily at the local police station. He was an officer belonging to the Forensic Science and Audio Communications Management Section of the Buenos Aires Security Ministry, and was off-duty at the time of the incident.
According to the officer's account, he was parked in his white Chevrolet Corsa alongside a friend in front of a kiosk at the intersection of 11th and 526th streets, when a motorbike pulled up next to him and the rider dismounted in a threatening manner with apparent intentions to rob him. Facing what he described as an imminent danger, he drew his service weapon and fired two shots.
According to the same account, the motorcyclist immediately fled on the vehicle, so the police officer also left the scene with his companion. However, the suspected robber advanced only a few metres before collapsing mortally wounded on the pavement on the next block.
The case fell under the jurisdiction of Functional Investigation Unit (UFI) No. 11 of La Plata, initially classified as "Homicide - Investigation of Crime". The prosecutor in charge ordered the detention of the officer and immediately seized his service pistol—a Bersa Thunder TPR 9-millimetre—and ordered dermotest tests to gather physical evidence. The Security Ministry separately determined the preventative removal of the officer whilst the judicial proceedings continue.
Sources linked to the investigation revealed, according to the newspaper El Día, that the deceased had a criminal record for improper use of firearms, threats, bodily harm and aggravated robbery.
In the coming hours, ballistics tests, autopsy results and analysis of public and private security cameras in the surroundings of Tolosa will be decisive in establishing whether the police officer acted in self-defence or whether there was an excess in his actions.
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires