President Gustavo Petro ordered an investigation into the attack, which authorities said was carried out by a minor under 15 years of age.
Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot during a campaign event in Bogota on June 7, according to government and party authorities, and his wife.
A potential presidential contender, Uribe, 39, was fighting for his life in the hospital on Sunday.
President Gustavo Petro ordered an investigation into the attack, which was carried out by a “minor under 15 years of age” who was “arrested for carrying a Glock pistol-type firearm, the Colombian attorney general’s office said in a statement. The office said Uribe was shot twice and two others were also wounded.
Uribe, who is a part of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party, was shot in the Fontibon neighborhood in the capital during a 2026 presidential campaign event, a party statement on the attack said.
“Armed subjects shot him from behind,” the party said, which described the shooting as serious.
The hospital treating Uribe issued a medical report saying that he had been admitted in critical condition and was undergoing a “neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedure.”
In various videos on social media, Uribe can be seen bleeding from his head while being tended to after the shooting.
He was “fighting for this life,” Uribe’s wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, wrote on her husband’s social media X account.
At the Santa Fe Foundation Hospital where the senator is being treated, people gathered to pray and stage candlelight vigils, some carrying the nation’s flag.
A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting, and authorities are investigating if others could have been involved, Colombia’s Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said. He added that he had visited Uribe in the hospital.
The Colombian government is offering a roughly $730,000 reward to anyone with information on the shooting.
The government “categorically and forcefully” condemned the violent attack and is pushing for a complete investigation, Colombia’s presidency said in a statement.
By Jacob Burg
