For some it was a blow. To others, it looked like an explosion from a car deck or a heavy impact from a bicycle. When the sound was repeated, no one was left in any doubt: they were killing someone. At 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a 39-year-old man killed a 19-year-old young man and injured a 47-year-old adult.
The two were inside a Cherry QQ car at the Giannattasio and Uruguay avenue service station, in Ciudad de la Costa. The Prosecutor’s Office presumes that it is a settling of accounts, since the wounded man has a criminal record. However, in his line of investigation he points out that the deceased adolescent is a collateral victim. The alleged aggressor is in custody and it is estimated that he will be charged this Thursday.
Until the police came, nobody wanted to go near the car. The situation was sudden and it was not clear to them that the threat had dissipated. From the radio taxi that is located diagonally from the station – one of the few places open at that time on a purely commercial block – the drivers fled thinking that they were robbing the station. Inside the station, the few customers there were and the officials hid behind the refrigerators and the counter, while the man, injured and from the car, asked for help and shouted for his nephew, who had died from the impacts.
As he knew The Observer, one of the victims had gotten out of the car to buy at the gas station market and when he returned to the car, which was parked next to the tire inflation hoses, the hooded assailant appeared and, without a word, fired several shots through the passenger window, where the 19-year-old was traveling. The older man, who has a history of drug supply, robbery and theft, was injured in the hand, shoulder, leg and cheek.
Camilo dos Santos
A hooded man shot a young man and his uncle through the passenger window
The man ran west and at the corner he got into a gray car in which he fled along the Rambla Costanera, but was later arrested. The car in which he planned his escape had been stolen in Montevideo. The police seized a 9mm pistol and 50 ammunition in a toiletry bag. The Prosecutor’s Office estimates that it will formalize the investigation this Thursday and will accuse the aggressor.
Canelones Police Headquarters
The alleged perpetrator was seized a 9mm weapon and 50 ammunition
Service station officials present that night testified in front of the Investigations Department on Wednesday.
A corner with repeated history
In February 2016, the corner of Giannattasio and Uruguay also experienced a scene full of drama. A shooting at the traffic light ended with a Paraguayan couple dead. The car in which they were traveling left the road and a few blocks later it killed a teenager who was passing by the place at that time accompanied by several friends. Those who were there then believed that it was a traffic accident, but when they approached they found a driver riddled with bullets and a seven-year-old boy in the back seat.
The employees of the shops in the area were marked by that fact and remember it again this Wednesday, after the shootings and violence were repeated.
Camilo dos Santos
In 2016, on the same corner, they shot a drug dealer
Consulted by The Observer, everyone told their concern: that they go through a wave of robberies. Bicycles, cell phones and backpacks are the most repeated.
At the gas station, the last episode occurred just over three months ago., when his cell phone and the proceeds from the cash register were stolen from a pistero at gunpoint. In any case, the neighbors recognize that there is a high degree of patrolling. They have a police station less than 10 blocks away and a court two blocks away. A few days ago, the Lagomar service station, a few blocks from there, was also robbed.
Referents of the Canelones Police pointed out to The Observer that these are not the most dangerous areas of the department, but they recognize a considerable number of crimes, which they relate to the fact that it is a busy area.
At least six alleged collateral victims in October
The investigation indicates that the murdered young man is a collateral victim of an attack on the man who was injured. In addition, October hit five other victims who, in preliminary investigations, were taken as “collateral” of attacks directed at others.
In Montevideo, a war between drug gangs in Las Acacias that has lasted for several days claimed the lives of two women, aged 51 and 21, and two adolescents aged 14 and 15. At the moment it is not proven that they are directly related to these bands in conflict.
The youngest of all was a three-year-old boy, who ended up in the hospital after finding himself in a shooting in which his father, a 37-year-old man, was killed. The episode occurred in the middle of the street in Punta de Rieles.
