Colombia hunts for assailants after Bogota prison director shot dead
Al Jazeera
Elmer Fernandez’s killing comes after an emergency was declared in February to curb a surge in prison violence.
The new director of one of Colombia’s biggest prisons has been shot dead, the authorities said, after receiving threats against him and his family last week, prompting the government to order a massive operation in the capital to hunt down the assailants.
Elmer Fernandez’s killing in Bogota on Thursday comes after the government declared a “prison emergency” in February amid a surge in cases of prison riots, homicides, attacks and threats against prison personnel in several jails across the country.
The former police colonel, and current director of Bogota’s La Modelo prison was returning home from work when a motorcycle approached his vehicle and gunmen opened fire. He was killed with a single shot to the head as he sat in the passenger seat.
Justice Minister Nestor Osuna condemned the killing and said a major police operation was under way to catch the assailants.
“I want to express all my solidarity and that of the government and the entire nation to the family of Colonel Fernandez,” he said.
