Summary: Vice President Cristina Fernández was unharmed after a gunman’s weapon failed to fire as he tried to shoot her at close range outside her home.
Argentina’s vice president survived an assassination attempt late Thursday after a gunman’s weapon jammed as he tried to shoot her at close range outside her home, the country’s leader said.
The man attempted to kill the vice president as she was surrounded by large crowds of supporters outside her Buenos Aires residence around 9 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) Thursday, according to a statement by President Alberto Fernández.
The gun was loaded with five bullets, according to the president. “A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” he said in a national broadcast following the incident.
The president said it was “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy,” referring to the end of the country’s military junta in 1983.
