An adult Chilean man was shot in the groin in a square on Pedro Lira street, in the Bajos de Mena area of Puente Alto. He is now hospitalized at Hospital Sótero del Río with serious injuries, but out of mortal danger.
According to La Tercera, the Equipo de Crimen Organizado y Homicidios (ECOH, the Public Prosecutor's Organized Crime and Homicide Team) of the Ministerio Público (Chile's Public Prosecutor's Office) in the Región Metropolitana (the Santiago metropolitan region) is investigating the case. It is working with the Brigada de Homicidios Metropolitana Sur (South Metropolitan Homicide Squad) of the Policía de Investigaciones (PDI, Chile's investigative police).
The sources disagree on the timing. La Tercera reported that Carabineros (Chile's national uniformed police) said the wounded man arrived at a health center on Thursday afternoon. BioBioChile, however, places the attack in the early hours of Friday.
According to La Tercera, the man first arrived at the Centro de Salud Familiar (Cesfam, a family health center) Karol Wojtyla in Bajos de Mena. Because of the severity of his injuries, he was transferred to Hospital Sótero del Río, the hospital serving the comuna (municipality), where teams from the Fiscalía (Prosecutor's Office) and the PDI went.
Prosecutor Ernesto Navarro described what has been gathered so far in a video statement. The victim was in the square when another person arrived with a firearm and shot him. BioBioChile added that the attacker fled.
"All procedures aimed at identifying the person who fired this shot are being carried out. There may be witnesses at the scene," Navarro said. So far no one has been arrested, and the sources provide no information on a possible motive.
The case is at the investigation stage. The next step is to take a statement from the wounded man before the Homicide Squad and the ECOH prosecutors, as soon as his health allows, the prosecutor explained.
