Police officer shoots dead 8-year-old boy in Huacho; sub-officer detained
A National Police sub-officer was detained after shooting an 8-year-old child in the head during a police intervention in Huacho, Lima.
PNP sub-officer investigated for culpable homicide after killing child in Huacho
A sub-officer of the National Police of Peru (PNP), identified as Luis Nazario Chumbes, was detained in flagrante delicto and is being investigated over the suspected death of an 8-year-old boy during a police intervention in the city of Huacho, approximately 140 kilometres north of Lima. According to milenio.com, the Public Ministry disclosed the case on Monday.
The child was shot in the head during an intervention at a mototaxi on a street in Huacho. He was transferred in critical condition to the Children's Hospital in Lima, where he died on Sunday, according to reports from local media.
According to available information, the boy was travelling as a passenger alongside his mother in the mototaxi, which had suffered a traffic accident. The situation prompted the police intervention, which led to an altercation between officers and the vehicle driver and other persons present at the scene.
The case was taken on by the Criminal Prosecutor's Office of Huaura, which is investigating sub-officer Chumbes for the suspected commission of the crime of culpable homicide in the degree of attempted.
The Public Ministry stated that the child "died following a police intervention in Huacho" and that the officer "would have caused the death of the victim with a shot". Deputy Provincial Prosecutor Fernando Ayala ordered the seizure of the firearm used and ordered the carrying out of ballistic expertise and an atomic absorption test.
In addition, Ayala ordered that recordings from surveillance cameras in the area be obtained, as well as a video recorded by witnesses to the incident. Statements were also taken from the officers who participated in the intervention.
The Public Ministry stated that it maintains coordination with the Institute of Legal Medicine of Lima to perform the autopsy as required by law, in order to "clarify what happened".
Source: Google News PE — Crime