The increase in insecurity in several of the country's major cities remains one of the main concerns of authorities and inhabitants, as well as the few judicial processes that manage to send criminals to prison. Because of this, some citizens decide to take justice into their own hands and act violently if they find a thief, a situation that happened recently in Bucaramanga.
The inhabitants of the Malpaso neighborhood, located in commune 11 of the city, are involved in a controversy, after several of them united to give an 'exemplary punishment' to a thief who commits crime in this area. However, the alleged thief was killed in the middle of the 'punishment' in which they used sticks, fists, kicks and even bladed weapons.
According to the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Police report, several people caught a man when he tried to steal a woman's cell phone in the street by threatening her with a knife. The group of people not only prevented the robbery, but prevented the thief from fleeing the place and gathered around him to beat and humiliate him, as an act of justice by their own hands.
In this regard, Brigadier General Samuel Bernal, of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Police, spoke out that the events took place around 9:00 in the evening last Tuesday, April 12. “The witnesses stated that a person was going to steal a female with a sharp weapon and it is learned by the community who assaults him and inflicts a fulminant wound,” the uniformed man told RCN Mundo.
What is read in the Mebuc report is that the angry mob undertook it with the thief causing him multiple injuries, among them, the most serious were those with a sharp gun in the abdominal region, which would have caused death.
In the middle of the 'palotherapy' some of the people involved noticed that the thief was badly injured, which is why they intervened to give him first aid and stop the mob's bane. Minutes later the police arrived at the scene and transferred the man to a medical center.
The thief was treated in the emergency room at the Foscal Clinic, the closest healthcare center to the area of the incident; unfortunately, the severity of the injuries caused the doctors' efforts to save his life to not work and he died minutes later. Authorities have not yet identified the deceased, but indicate that he is a man of approximately 30 years old.
Following the man's death, the authorities have launched an investigation to ensure that the aggression does not go unpunished and those responsible for the death are held accountable for their actions. “For now there are no captures of the fact. However, the collection of testimonies and evidence has already begun to find those responsible for this crime,” said Brigadier Bernal.
As this is not the first case in that city in which a thief is injured or killed by being caught by the community, the authorities called for citizens not to take justice into their own hands, since it may be they who end up harmed or prosecuted.
As stated by the Secretary of Security of Bucaramanga, Melissa Franco, “citizens should not take justice with their own hands because people can be prosecuted for attempted murder and personal injury.”
Only last weekend in Provence, also in the capital of Santander, a criminal was killed in the middle of an attempted theft. According to Semana magazine, a man intercepted a couple walking in this area at night and threatened them with a knife; however, he did not count on how quickly these people reacted to defend themselves.
The local police reported that the couple did not allow themselves to be intimidated and struggled with the thief, who was eventually stabbed to death with the same weapon that sought to frighten citizens.
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