New Delhi: Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner escaped unharmed after a man tried to shoot her at point blank range on Thursday. The gunman pointed a loaded handgun in her face and tried to shoot, but the weapon failed to go off. He was detained seconds later by the vice president's security personnel after being identified by people surrounding him, reported the news agency AP.
“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” AP quoted the president as saying in a national broadcast. The vice president is on trial on corruption charges and hundreds of supporters had gathered outside her home when the attack took place.
In the viral video, an arm with a pistol can be seen extending toward Fernandez de Kirchner's forehead as she greeted supporters outside her house in the Recoleta neighbourhood in Buenos Aires. She ducked when he pulls the trigger but the gun doesn't go off, people surrounding the man appear shocked.
“A person who was identified by those who were close to him who had a gun was detained by (the vice president’s) security personnel,” Security Minister Aníbal Fernandez told local cable news channel C5N, reported AP.
President Alberto Fernandez’s government issued a news release saying they “energetically condemn the attempted homicide" of the vice president." What happened tonight is of extreme gravity and threatens democracy, institutions and the rule of law,” reads the release according to AP.
According to Reuters, authorities identified the assailant, as a 35-year-old man of Brazilian origin.
Fernandez de Kirchner served as president for two terms between 2007 and 2015. Last week, a prosecutor called for a 12-year sentence in a case involving alleged corruption in public works in the early 2000s.
She is also expected to run for the post of president in next year's general elections.