A presidential candidate in Colombia has been shot and seriously wounded at an event in Bogota, according to reports.
Miguel Uribe Turbay, a senator, was in critical condition and a suspect has been arrested, the Agence France Presse news agency reported.
Early reports said he had been shot in the head or in the back.
The mayor of Bogota, Carlos Galán, was quoted by CNN as saying that Uribe was receiving emergency treatment after being attacked in the Fontibon district on Saturday.
In a statement Colombia’s presidential office condemned the attack.
It said: “The National Government categorically and forcefully rejects the attack that the Senator of the Republic, Miguel Uribe Turbay, was the victim of in recent hours.”
Shocking video and pictures on social media appeared to show Uribe shot while addressing a crowd of people; shocked members of the public running from the scene; a man being held down on the ground by law enforcement officers; and blood smeared on the front of a vehicle.
Uribe, 39, is the son of Diana Turbay, a journalist who was kidnapped by the Medellin drugs cartel and killed in a bungled rescue attempt in 1991, three days before her son’s fifth birthday. His grandfather was Julio César Turbay Ayala, who served as president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982.
He is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party and is running for the presidency in 2026.
The party released a statement calling the apparent assassination attempt an “an unacceptable act of violence.”
Colombia's Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said a suspect had been arrested in the shooting and that authorities were investigating whether others were involved. Sanchez said he had visited the hospital where Uribe was being treated.
The South American country has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government.
Leftist President Gustavo Petro sympathized with the senator's family in a message on X, saying, "I don't know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland."
With reporting from Reuters
