Teen Accused of Shooting Colombian Senator Faces 8 Years in Prison

‘What we should do as a society is reflect on why a minor ends up immersed in a hitman network,’ Colombia’s attorney general said.

People look at the place where Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot and wounded at a June 7 political event in Bogota, on June 9, 2025. Raul Arboleda/AFP

Colombian Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo Garzón said on June 9 that the minor arrested in connection with the attempted assassination of Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay, a presidential hopeful in the upcoming election, faces up to eight years in prison.

“The eventual sanction to which he would be subject is a sentence of up to eight years, which is not strictly a prison sentence. ... It is educational, restorative, and its purpose is to restore the rights of this minor,” she told reporters on June 9, referring to the 14-year-old boy suspected of shooting Uribe Turbay on June 7.

The attorney general added that the 14-year-old boy would be held in one of the special centers for adolescents, in accordance with Law 1098 of 2006 of the Colombian Constitution.

Camargo Garzón said the boy’s actions were a reminder for the wider community to reflect on how he could have been driven to commit such crimes.

“What we should do as a society is reflect on why a minor ends up immersed in a hitman network, and how and what kind of measures we could adopt to prevent this from happening, either in this case or in any other,” she said at a news conference.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on June 8 that the investigation is progressing following the suspect’s capture, with the assistance of videos and witnesses.

However, he said that “the first responsibility of the state, of its institutions, is to protect the minor’s life, because he is a child, and as terrible as it may seem, children are protected in Colombia.”

If families and the state do not protect children, “we will no longer have a country; in the end, everyone, including our children, will end up murdered,” Petro said.

Colombian Sen. Jonathan Ferney Pulido Hernández, known as JotaPe, from the Green Alliance political party, criticized the president’s statement, saying that whoever commits a crime should be considered a criminal.

“‘A 14-year-old boy,’ says Gustavo Petro trying to romanticize the criminal who shot Miguel Uribe yesterday. No, without any hesitation or consideration, this boy undoubtedly chose to be a bandit, prepared himself to learn how to use weapons, fire them, and kill,” Pulido Hernández said in a YouTube video on June 8.

He called for justice against criminals “regardless of age” and urged Petro to do better.

“It’s the same Gustavo Petro who raised the flag proclaiming freedom or death. It’s the same Gustavo Petro who has threatened us and placed a tombstone on all of us who are defending this country,” Pulido Hernández said.

He also asked Colombians to unite to defend the country and pray for the life of Uribe Turbay, “because without a doubt, he is a defender of Colombia and of our country’s democracy.”

Uribe Turbay, of the conservative Democratic Center party, remains in critical condition following surgery performed early on the morning of June 9 after he was shot three times during a campaign event in the Modelia neighborhood of Bogotá on June 7.

The alleged perpetrator of the attack is a resident of a marginalized neighborhood in Bogotá. He was shot in the leg by police while trying to flee the scene, and was captured by the police a few blocks away with the help of the community.

Uribe Turbay is the son of journalist Diana Turbay, who was kidnapped and murdered in 1991 by guerrillas when he was 4 years old, and the grandson of former President Julio César Turbay Ayala. Uribe Turbay was a councilman and secretary of government of Bogotá, and has held a senate seat for the Democratic Center since 2022.