Peruvian prosecutor seeks preventive detention for police officer who killed eight-year-old in Huacho
A police non-commissioned officer was detained after shooting an eight-year-old child during an operation in Huacho. The prosecutor's office is seeking nine months of preventive detention.
Police officer detained over death of eight-year-old in Huacho
Peru's prosecutor's office has sought nine months of preventive detention against police non-commissioned officer Luis Nazario, who was detained and is under investigation for allegedly fatally shooting an eight-year-old child with his firearm during an operation in Huacho, north of the Lima region, according to infobae.com as reported on Tuesday citing the Public Ministry.
The Provincial Penal Prosecutor's Office of Huaura is investigating Nazario for the alleged commission of culpable homicide against the minor. Deputy prosecutor Fernando Ayala argued that the police action "would have been disproportionate, without prior warning or any real risk situation that would warrant the shot".
The child died on Sunday at the Children's Hospital in Lima, where he had been transferred in critical condition after receiving a gunshot wound to the head. The incident occurred during a police operation on a mototaxi—a motorised three-wheeled vehicle used to transport passengers. The child was travelling with his mother as a passenger in the vehicle when it suffered an accident, which prompted the arrival of police and led to an altercation with the driver and other people present.
On Monday, the Public Ministry had confirmed that the officer was "detained in flagrante delicto and would have caused the victim's death with a gunshot". As part of the investigation, prosecutor Ayala ordered the seizure of the firearm and instructed that ballistic testing and an atomic absorption test be carried out. He also requested statements from the officers who participated in the operation, video surveillance camera recordings from the area, and a video captured by witnesses to the incident.
The case comes at the same time as the entry into force of a controversial law that excludes police officers and military personnel who commit offences in the exercise of their duties from ordinary justice. Human rights defence organisations reject the legislation, considering it a mechanism of impunity for state agents responsible for deaths.
Source: Google News PE — Crime