Boy Screams In Anguish After Mum Shot By Gangsters

Story ByAna LacasaSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyCEN

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the moment a young boy screams in horror as his mum lies dead in the street after being shot by men on a motorbike.

The mother-of-four, identified as 36-year-old Maria del Pilar Hurtado, was gunned down in the town of Tierralta in the northern Colombian department of Cordoba.

The incident sparked outrage in the South American country, with President Ivan Duque announcing plans to send a team of experts to Tierralta to investigate Hurtado’s death.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

According to reports, the mother’s death may be linked to criminal gangs operating in the area, with the Clan del Golfo and The Black Eagles cited as possible perpetrators.

Reports said that Hurtado was interested in buying some land in an area controlled by drug traffickers and that she had a relationship with someone whose name appeared on a list of people wanted by the gangs.

The Tierralta government secretary said that Hurtado “did not belong to either group nor was she considered a community leader”.

However, director of the social foundation Cordoberxia, Andres Chica, said that she played a prominent role in the community even though she was not a known member of any activist groups or local associations.

Meanwhile, a representative of the Somos Defensores programme said that 25 human rights activists have been killed in Colombia during the first quarter of 2019.

Colombian lawyer Humberto de la Calle, who headed the peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), urged the president to take measures to stop the killing.

He said: “Mr President, with all respect, I do not think that the butchery of social leaders started with you, that would be unfair, but it is clear that it is getting worse.

“Look at what your policies have contributed towards. If we continue like this, there will be a humanitarian massacre.”

The investigation into Hurtado’s death is ongoing.

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