Colombia hunts for attackers after Bogota prison director shot dead | Crime News

The killing of Elmer Fernandez came after a state of emergency was declared in February to curb a rise in violence in prisons.

The new director of one of Colombia’s largest prisons was shot dead, authorities said, after receiving threats against him and his family last week, prompting the government to order a major operation in the capital to hunt down the attackers.

The killing of Elmer Fernandez on Thursday in Bogotá came after the government declared a “prison emergency” in February following an increase in prison riots, killings, attacks and threats against prison staff in several prisons across the country.

The former police colonel and current director of La Modelo prison in Bogota was returning home from work when a motorcycle approached his vehicle and gunmen opened fire. He was killed by a single shot to the head as he sat in the passenger seat.

Justice Minister Nestor Osuna condemned the killing and said a major police operation was underway to catch the attackers.

“I would like to express all my solidarity to the family of Colonel Fernandez, as well as that of the government and the entire nation,” he said.

Fernandez, who ran the facility on April 4, did not have a security escort or an armored car.

He had received several written death threats after he began implementing new government measures to clean up the prison and combat criminal activity, including unannounced searches of inmates and their cells.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X that Fernandez had been “shamefully murdered.”

“Tell the murderers that they will not intimidate us and that we will continue despite their attacks and their insolence,” he said after a security meeting.

General William Salamanca, the head of the Colombian National Police, ordered a lockdown in Bogota to find the suspects.

“I want to say to the murderers that you will not scare us and we will continue despite your attacks,” he told reporters.

Organized prison gangs

Some of Colombia’s most notorious criminals are held in La Modelo. In 2020, at least 23 people died at the facility following a riot in which inmates were “intentionally shot.”

In 2022, a fire during an apparent riot at a prison in the southwestern Colombian city of Tulua killed 49 people and injured dozens.

Authorities say organized gangs operate out of the country’s overcrowded prisons, smuggling drugs and running extortion rackets.

Jorge Restrepo, a political analyst and professor at Javeriana University in Bogota, told Al Jazeera that criminal gangs were well-connected across the country and their power was extensive.

“It is very likely that it was carried out by organized groups,” he said of Fernandez’s murder.

Fernandez led an operation to separate gang members.

Colombia’s prison authority warned that more officers were at risk. Since the start of the year, five guards have been killed and six have survived assassination attempts.

According to government figures, at least 550 officers have received death threats in the past two years.

Daniel Gutierrez, director of the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute, admitted that Fernandez was not provided with an armored vehicle “because we do not have the capacity,” adding that “in fact, no director has such protection.”