A 68-year-old merchant was killed this Friday at night by a group of criminals in the Villa Colón neighborhood, in Montevideo, after receiving two bullet wounds that caused his death. As reported Telemundo, The thieves entered the bar located on Lezica and Niña avenues late at night, and threatened its owner and several people who were there with pepper spray and pistols.
The owner of the premises tried to disarm one of the criminals, but was approached by another who shot him twice, one of which hit near the heart. Despite being assisted and transferred to a hospital in the area, the man died as a result of the injuries received. In addition, a client remains hospitalized after receiving a bullet impact in one of his eyes.
Consequently, A group of residents from Villa Colón, Colón and Melilla gathered this Saturday afternoon to demand more police presence in the area, shaken in recent weeks by several fatal incidents.
According to a proclamation read by one of the neighbors and recorded by Telemundo, in the neighborhood the outbursts, robberies to high schools, the elderly and children accumulate every day. “We follow all the steps and nothing,” they commented, before adding: “we are invisible to the Ministry of the Interior” and a “forgotten neighborhood in the hands of criminals.”
The letter continued: “Today we are afraid” and “Today Lezica says enough”. In this regard, they demanded police presence and security cameras, while expressing solidarity with the “dear merchant” murdered by “six cowards who leave a shattered family.”
The case is in the hands of the Police Operational Zone IV. This morning two minors under the age of 16 were arrested and money, cell phones and two weapons allegedly linked to the bartender’s case were seized.
