Leoncio Bermúdez (42) was a sub-inspector and was the one who ran to the Rosario Provincial Hospital to intercede before the invasion of four people who arrived armed in search of a prisoner who had been interned there. At the door, before entering, he ran into one of them who—without saying a word—shot him in cold blood and killed him.
That dramatic scene, in which one of the men grabbed the agent as he ran away and attacked him with bullets, was recorded on a security camera. The officer could not do anything and was left lying unable to get up.
A few meters away, at the checkpoint, was his 7-year-old daughter, who was waiting for her mother to pick her up.
Bermúdez was shot in the skull and was taken in critical condition to the Clemente Álvarez Emergency Hospital (Heca). He was admitted with cardiac arrest and died shortly after, despite the cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers performed by the staff of that institution.
Everything happened after 9 pm on Tuesday at the hospital, where the criminals with their faces covered entered through the guard area, located on one of the sides, on Zeballos Street. They asked for permission to enter the bathroom and, when denied, pulled out their weapons and threatened the staff.
When they were heading towards the confinement room where the prisoner was, Penitentiary Service agents who were close to the entrance alerted the situation. A struggle and shooting took place, so several of the people who were there had to throw themselves to the ground to be safe.
A woman was injured in the leg, as confirmed this Wednesday by prosecutor Gisela Paolicelli, who leaned towards the hypothesis that the attackers tried to rescue the detainee and confirmed that they beat a prisoner and stole his weapon.
The prisoner who was admitted to the hospital was Gabriel Guillermo Lencina (29), sentenced to 22 years in prison for homicide. He had been admitted last Monday for a case of pulmonary pneumonia that could not be treated at the Piñero prison, where he was housed. After the episode that occurred this Tuesday night, he was moved ahead of time.
According to some witnesses to the event, the armed men escaped aboard a Fiat Uno car in which they had arrived. Immediately, an extensive operation was deployed to locate them, which continued this morning without positive results.
