Colombia: a man kills his ex and infects 7 people with a mysterious toxic powder

Alert to the mysterious toxic powder in Colombia: a man killed his ex-girlfriend in a shopping center before committing suicide with an undetermined substance which contaminated seven other people.

The incident, reported Thursday by local authorities, occurred on Wednesday in a shopping center in the municipality of Sabaneta (northwest), near the city of Medellín.

After months of “harassment” against his ex-girlfriend Maryori Muñoz, 40, Luis Carlos Aguirre, 67, went to the beauty salon she ran in the mall, a security official said. regional, Mariano Atehortua.

The victim left his workplace to go meet his former companion, and returned “two minutes later calling for help,” said this source on national radio.

Mall workers, firefighters and police immediately attended to Ms. Muñoz, who died shortly afterwards in hospital.

His corneas as well as his respiratory tract were “totally destroyed”, according to Mr. Atehortua.

The assailant fled by a fire escape, rushed into a toilet from which he came out shortly after making “a respiratory arrest”.

The powder used by the assailant, traces of which were found in the toilets, is a “literally lethal” substance which is the subject of an investigation, added the same source.

“A fire official, two police officers (…), two officials from the Las Américas clinic and two other employees of the shopping center” were intoxicated by the mysterious substance, with nausea, vomiting and headaches, but their condition is now stable.

The floors of the mall contaminated with the chemical were closed.

Femicide is common in Colombia where, according to the forensic authority, 100 cases were recorded in 2022. The Colombian Observatory of Femicide, a civil society initiative, puts the figure at 612 for the same year.

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