‘Assassination Attempt’ on Argentine Vice President Cristina Kirchner

Police arrested a man who pointed a pistol at Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as she greeted supporters outside her home.

Footage circulating online suggests the man in the crowd held the pistol up close to Christina Kirchner’s face, but his weapon did not fire.

The BBC reported that Kirchner was unharmed in the incident outside his Buenos Aires buddy. This incident happened during the trial of the vice president of Argentina in a case of corruption.

Kirchner was returning from court at the time of the incident. He has been denying the corruption charges leveled against him. Argentina’s Finance Minister Sergio Massa called the incident of putting a pistol to Kirchner’s face an “assassination attempt”.

“When hate and violence prevail over debate, society breaks down and situations like assassination attempts arise,” he said in a tweet.

Footage shown by local media showed the suspect holding a pistol inches from Kirchner’s head and attempting to shoot the vice president. Kirchner immediately lowered his head, no bullets came out of that pistol.

In another video circulating on social media, Kirchner appeared to be trying to block the suspected gunman from the crowd. A police spokesman later told Reuters news agency that an “armed” man was detained near Kirchner’s home and a weapon was found a few meters from the scene.