Argentina police shoot down man barricaded for more than 10 hours, hostage found dead

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, police in Argentina shot down a man who had held a friend captive for more than 10 hours, whom security forces found dead inside the building where the assailant was heavily armed and had fired more than 300 shots.

Police officers broke into a house located on Tres de Febrero de Caseros street, in the province of Buenos Aires, where the assailant, identified as Alejandro Maldonado, 40, had barricaded himself in Monday night, taking one of his friends hostage during a family dinner that led to an argument, according to ‘La Nación’.

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During the police intervention, four officers were injured, while the scientific police confirmed that the victim’s body had died hours before.

The Minister of Security of Buenos Aires, Sergio Beni, has assured that during the barricade “more than 300 shots” have been heard, considering “impressive the amount of ammunition” he had, some detonations that have been “of high caliber”, he explained to the television channel TN.

“He has quite important mental alterations, even a delirium that he has prepared for the Third World War, with bulletproof vests and gas mask”, Beni detailed, to emphasize that “when he wants he screams, when he wants he talks. He is alienated”.