‘Gun misfire’ in bid to kill Argentina vice-president

AN attempt to kill Argentina’s politically powerful vice president Cristina Fernandez outside her home failed after a handgun misfired, according to the president.

The man who was seen brandishing the weapon was quickly overpowered by Ms Fernandez’s security officers during the incident on Thursday night, officials said.

President Alberto Fernandez said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.

“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” the president said in a national broadcast following the incident.

He said the firearm was loaded with five bullets, but “didn’t fire even though the trigger was pulled”.

The vice president, herself a former leader of the country, did not appear to have suffered any injury, and the man was overpowered within seconds as he stood among a crowd of her supporters.

Gina De Bai, a witness who was near the vice president during the incident, told the Associated Press she heard “the sound of the trigger being pulled”. She said she did not realise it was a handgun until the man was rushed by security personnel.

The attack came as the vice president is facing a trial for alleged acts of corruption during her 2007-2015 presidency – charges that she vehemently denies and that have led her supporters to surround her home in the upscale Recoleta area of Argentina’s capital.

The alleged gunman was identified as Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, a Brazilian citizen, said an official at the Security Ministry.

Television Publica Argentina via AP This still image taken from a video provided by Television Publica Argentina shows a man pointing a gun at Argentina´s Vice President Cristina Fernandez during an event in front of her home in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires on Thursday