A young female cop who had recently taken to social media to write “I was born to be free not murdered” has been fatally shot in the head by her boyfriend during a row.

Ayelen Sanabria, 22, died in hospital after her boyfriend identified by the initials P. F. allegedly shot her in the head during a violent argument.

The incident took place in a residence in the town of Ciudadela in the Greater Buenos Aires area in Argentina on Saturday, 23rd October.

When cops arrived on the scene following a call, the woman’s boyfriend of eight months told them she had shot herself in the head following an argument allegedly motivated by her jealousy.

The police officers, however, suspected femicide rather than suicide and arrested the man, who is also a police officer.

The victim was taken to the Hospital Zonal General de Agudos where she died shortly after arriving.

In a recent Facebook post, Ayelen shared a picture of herself with a caption translating to “I was born to be free not murdered.”

Femicide claims countless lives every year in Argentina, and according to the women’s rights organisation ‘Casa del Encuentro’, a woman is murdered in the country every 30 hours.

According to the feminist movement ‘Ni Una Menos’, an estimated 40 percent of femicides were committed by a partner in 2021 and 80 children have been left without a mother in the country as a result.

The suspect’s preventive detention on suspicion of aggravated murder has been judicially authorised.

The investigation is ongoing.