Argentine authorities suspect assassination attempt against vice president was planned

LONDON

Argentine authorities investigating the attempted assassination against Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner believe Tuesday the attack was premeditated and the suspect may not have acted alone, according to media reports.

Sources close to the case told the media outlet, Infobae, that Judge Maria Eugenia Capuchetti and prosecutor Carlos Rivolo suspect that there was a planned organization potentially with more suspects in the days leading up to the attempted killing.

Officials have been reviewing telephone data and CCTV footage close to the home of the vice president which has shown the now-arrested girlfriend of the suspect in the area.

As authorities continue to investigate, the judge received testimony from the vice-president, who has requested to be a plaintiff in the case, and from 30 witnesses.

Two leaked photographs from the investigation taken before the attack on de Kirchner were published Tuesday by the Clarín newspaper. They showed the suspect, Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, and his girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, posing with the Bersa handgun used in the attempted attack.

Sabag Montiel's motives remain unclear after he refused to testify Friday while Uliarte was arrested late Sunday night but has not yet been questioned.

De Kirchner was outside her home and surrounded by a crowd of supporters when she narrowly avoided the assassination attempt Thursday after a gunman's weapon jammed while it was aimed at her.

The suspect's DNA was found on the trigger, slip, and grip of the gun -- which had five bullets in the magazine but none in the chamber. Despite the trigger being pulled twice, no projective was fired.

A subsequent raid on the attacker's home by authorities unearthed 100 9mm bullets.
Sabag Montiel is a Brazilian national, the son of an Argentine and a Chilean, who has lived in Argentina since early childhood.

He has a previous criminal record for illegal possession of a 35-centimeter (14-inch) long knife.

On social media, Sabag Montiel has frequently changed his look and has displayed several tattoos with Nazi symbolism.