A Colombian senator hoping to be the country’s next president remains in a critical condition and has shown little response to treatment after he was shot on Saturday, the hospital treating him has said.
Miguel Uribe Turbay, a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center Party, was shot in the head during a campaign event at a public park in the Fontibon neighbourhood of the Colombian capital Bogota.
“His condition is extremely serious,” the Santa Fe Foundation hospital said in a statement today.
“Therefore, the prognosis remains guarded.”
The update came before the head of Colombia’s national police said the 9mm pistol used in the attack was legally purchased in Arizona in the US.
Authorities are investigating how it got into Colombia.
The Attorney General’s Office, which is investigating the shooting, said the 39-year-old senator suffered two gunshot wounds in the attack.
The hospital had said on Sunday that Mr Uribe Turbay was in a critical condition and had procedures on his head and his left thigh. It added that he remained in intensive care as doctors sought to stabilise his condition.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene with a firearm.
Police chief General Carlos Triana later said the teenage suspect was being treated for a leg injury.
Attorney General Luz Adriana Camacho said on Monday that authorities have yet to interrogate the boy as he has been receiving medical care.
However, she said that if the teenager were a gun-for-hire, he would likely have little information about the hirer’s motive.
Two other people were injured in the attack, but the nature of their injuries has not been made public.
Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay is carried to an ambulance. Pic: Reuters
A soldier guards the hospital the clinic where Colombian senator Miguel Uribe Turbay is being treated. Pic: AP
Mr Uribe Turbay’s wife Maria Claudia Tarazona said on Sunday that he had survived an initial operation for his injuries but remained in intensive care.
“Miguel came out of surgery, he made it. Every hour is a critical hour. He fought his first battle, and it went well,” Ms Tarazona told local media. “This will take time.”
The couple are parents to a young son.
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Maria Claudia Tarazona outside the hospital where Miguel Uribe Turbay is being treated. Pic: AP
Miguel Uribe Turbay in Bogota in May. Pic: AP
Mr Uribe Turbay, a right-wing politician from a prominent political family, announced earlier this year that he wanted to run for president and was vying to be his party’s candidate in Colombia’s presidential election in March 2026.
It was unclear why he was targeted in the attack. He was polling well behind other party candidates at the time of the shooting.
Mr Uribe’s grandfather was president from 1978 to 1982, while his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar.
She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.
People gather to pray for Miguel Uribe Turbay’s recovery in the city of Cali. Pic: AP
People hold candles as they gather outside the hospital where Miguel Uribe Turbay is being treated. Pic: AP
Bogota’s mayor, Carlos Galan, whose own presidential candidate father was assassinated in 1989, addressed journalists
outside the hospital overnight, saying he had asked for increased protection for all candidates in Bogota and for Mr Uribe’s family.
The government is offering a $730,000 (£540,000) reward for information, and President Gustavo Petro said the investigation will focus on who ordered the attack.
“For now, there is nothing more than a hypothesis,” he said, adding that failures in security protocols would also be looked into.
Mr Uribe Turbay was accompanied by a team of 21 people at the time of the shooting, his office said, including councilman Andres Barrios.
His party described it as an “unacceptable act of violence”, while US secretary of state Marco Rubio condemned it in the “strongest possible terms”.
Writing on X, Mr Rubio also urged Colombia’s current president to “dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials”.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
