Army gives the first version about the soldier who died in the hands of a comrade

The National Army ruled on the investigation into the death of soldier Juan José Durán Acero, of the Fifth Brigade Command. The man died after, in events that are still the subject of investigation, he was allegedly shot by a rifle from a weapon provided by one of his companions. The death of the uniformed man took place this weekend in the Chicamocha Canyon in Santander, while the men were carrying out road checks.

“Apparently, at the end of the tasks carried out at the highway checkpoint that the troops were carrying out over the Chicamocha Canyon, another soldier, in circumstances to be established, would have activated his endowment weapon against the humanity of Durán Acero, who died on the spot,” said the Fifth Brigade Command on the facts.

Immediately after the death of the uniformed man, agents of the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) arrived at the scene. Juan José Durán Acero's body was transferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Bucaramanga. The Fifth Brigade of the Army stressed that it will do everything within its power to clarify what happened between the two soldiers and that a disciplinary and criminal investigation will begin. “It is hoped to clarify the circumstances of time, mode and place surrounding this situation (...) Likewise, we provide necessary accompaniment and support to our soldier's family,” added the Army's Fifth Brigade Command.

Although there is still no official statement regarding the reasons that led the soldier to fire, the local media outlet Q'hubo detailed that the soldiers were apparently playing and performing irregular maneuvers with the rifles, causing the weapon that caused the soldier's death to be fired accidentally.

This case is not the first of its kind. This year, in January, it was reported what happened in the Agua Bonita village, in the rural area of the municipality of Calamar, Guaviare, when a soldier fired his weapon against one of his companions.

“As soon as the regrettable fact is known, and after the police carried out the urgent acts, the victim and the alleged perpetrator were flown to the municipality of San José del Guaviare. The latter is already available to the competent authorities (...) The institution sends a message of condolences to the soldier's family and friends, and is already carrying out the work of accompanying them in this difficult situation, to provide all the support they require,” said the National Army, in those days.

In December 2021, a little less than a month earlier, something similar was lived in the village of Valencia in the rural area of the municipality of San Sebastián, in the south of the department of Cauca. There, a soldier lashed out at a deputy first sergeant and two other soldiers. The sergeant died immediately and his two companions were injured. This case was presented at the military base of the Army Mountain Battalion No. 4. The media reported that the uniformed were preparing to eat when the soldier attacked them with the firearm.

The deputy first sergeant was identified as Manuel Alejandro Velásquez Durán, he was 40 years old and 20 years of service in that institution. He was originally from Bucaramanga in Santander. “Two wounded soldiers arrived at the hospital, they were treated and taken by helicopter to the city of Popayán to be in a higher-level care center,” said Yobani Anacona, mayor of the municipality of San Sebastián, for RCN Radio.

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