The attempted assassination of Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay has plunged the nation into a deep political and institutional crisis. The 39-year-old conservative politician remains in “gravely critical” condition and is reportedly “unresponsive” after being shot in the head on Saturday during a campaign event in Bogotá. Authorities confirmed that the alleged shooter is a 15-year-old boy, currently under heavy guard at the Clínica Colombia medical facility, where he was treated for a leg injury.
Amateur footage shared on social media shows the moment the shooting occurred. Miguel Uribe Turbay was talking to residents outdoors in the Modelia neighborhood, a quiet middle-class area in western Bogotá, while a teenager lurked behind his back. The youngster then draws a firearm and shoots Uribe at point-blank range. The weapon – a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol – was quickly recovered at the scene, and traced to Arizona, United States, raising urgent questions over how the gun entered Colombia, and who may have have facilitated the firearm to the minor.
Outside Bogotá’s Fundación Santa Fe Hospital on Monday, Uribe’s lawyer, Víctor Mosquera, announced that a criminal complaint had been filed against the head of Colombia’s National Protection Unit (UNP), Augusto Rodríguez. Mosquera accuses Rodríguez of “repeated omission” and “criminal negligence” in failing to act on multiple requests to increase Uribe’s security detail. “This year alone, we submitted 23 formal requests for increased protection after Miguel announced his presidential candidacy,” Mosquera said. “The last was on June 5. Not one received a response.”
According to Mosquera, Uribe Turbay was left completely unguarded even during high-profile public events such as the Asobancaria banking conference in Cartagena, despite being classified as high-risk in the UNP’s 2023 threat assessment. “He was completely alone,” Mosquera emphasized. According to sources, the lack of protection was so evident that the Senator had to take a taxi from Cartagena’s Rafael Nuñez airport to the Convention Center. “No additional review by the UNP was conducted after he launched his candidacy,” affirmed his lawyer.
Colombia’s Prosecutor General has opened a disciplinary case against Rodríguez that could result in formal charges of dereliction of duty.
President Petro, on his “X” account, admitted that “Senator Uribe’s protection detail was strangely reduced on the day of the attack. From 7 to 3 people.” The country’s leftist leader has “requested the Security Council investigate this incident as thoroughly as possible”.
On Monday, Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo provided a preliminary update on the investigation in a press conference held alongside the director of the National Police, Maj. Gen. Carlos Fernando Triana; territorial security delegate Deicy Jaramillo; CTI director Fabián Andrés Ordóñez; and Dijín director Col. Hebert Mejía.
Camargo announced that a task force of 251 judicial police officers from both the Attorney General’s Office and National Police had been deployed to investigate the incident. Their mandate includes collecting and analyzing physical evidence, eyewitness testimony, and digital surveillance material to determine the motives, accomplices, and intellectual authors of the attack.
Ballistics testing has already been conducted on the Glock pistol used in the shooting, and investigators are working to determine whether the weapon was involved in other criminal activities via the Fiscalía’s SUCOBA forensic system. The teenage suspect has undergone an atomic absorption test (ASS) to confirm whether he discharged the firearm.
Investigators are also combing through nearly 1,000 videos, obtained under chain of custody, from security cameras, smartphones, and other sources. These will be used to reconstruct the shooter’s movements and any possible surveillance or tailing of Uribe in the hours before the attack.
In a very damning case of potential evidence tampering, the cellphone the youngster allegedly had in his possession has gone missing. Colombia’s Attorney General has confirmed the existence of a mobile device at the scene of the crime. The alleged hitman – sicario – at the time he was detained by the police was heard saying: “I have the names! Let me give you their numbers!” National Police Chief General Triana has stated that “no cellphone was recovered” where Miguel Uribe was gunned down.
In parallel, two raids have been conducted, and 23 witness interviews completed – including testimony from those present at the scene and two family members of the teenage suspect. A prosecutor from the Unit for Adolescent Criminal Responsibility (URPA) has formally validated the minor’s capture before a judge and is preparing to charge him with attempted aggravated homicide and illegal possession of a firearm. Authorities are seeking a preventive detention order in a specialized juvenile center.
Attorney General Camargo also confirmed that protection measures are being provided for the minor and his close relatives, though specific details were not disclosed due to security concerns.
The attack has shocked Colombia and reignited long-standing concerns over the safety of political figures, particularly those representing opposition parties. Uribe Turbay, a member of the conservative Centro Democrático party, has been an outspoken critic of President Gustavo Petro’s leftist administration. The shooting comes amid rising political tensions ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Critics across the political spectrum have accused Petro of fostering a climate of hostility toward opposition leaders through inflammatory rhetoric and hate narratives of the government’s paid social media “influencers” – bodegueros.
“Gustavo Petro has branded us as enemies, called us ‘Nazis’ and ‘Fascists,’ and now hypocritically calls for peace,” said Bogotá city councilor Daniel Briceño. He criticized Petro’s brief televised statement on Sunday night, which expressed concern for Uribe’s condition but failed to announce any concrete security guarantees for opposition figures. “There are no guarantees,” Briceño added. “We’re still waiting for meaningful responses from the Interior Ministry.”
Former two-term President Juan Manuel Santos, echoed the sentiment that Petro’s social media had exacerbated polarization within Colombia political circles. In a statement on “X” he warned that “verbal violence leads to physical violence,” and called on President Petro to de-escalate the tone of public discourse. “Lead by example”, wrote the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Federico Gutiérrez, Mayor of Medellín and a former 2022 presidential candidate, will travel to Miami on Monday for a meeting with the FBI to discuss the implications of the shooting and the broader threat environment facing Colombian political figures. “There are no guarantees for the opposition in Colombia,” Gutiérrez said. “Miguel Uribe is between life and death. The government failed to protect him.”
On Monday, Presidential candidate David Luna decided to temporarily suspend his campaign activities following the attack on Miguel Uribe. “I insist on the need to disarm the word, not insult, and demand the truth as soon as possible. I ask all campaigns not to take advantage of these painful moments for political gain,” said the Senator of Cambio Radical.
As Miguel Uribe clings to life, Colombia is faced not only with a deeply worrisome act of political violence, but must respond to a profound institutional question: Who protects democracy when a government can’t protect its candidates?
