a “confrontation” that wounds two criminal perpetrators
79
and a “frustrated robbery” that
led to a “shoot-out” after the perpetrator aimed a gun at a policeman.
80
Although official sources tend to hold the perpetrator responsible for any
“shooting” or “killing” that results from a “confrontation” with police, some of the
selected news articles suggest that the police may have also been at fault. Fourteen
percent of the selected articles report incidences of gatillo fácil (“easy trigger” or “trigger
happy”), a term popularly used to describe the inappropriate use of lethal force by police
personnel. Official police reports justify alleged incidences of gatillo fácil by claiming
victims were “criminals” who the police had caught in the act of committing a crime or
who had tried to flee when police personnel attempted to verify their identity. However,
some news articles also include reports given by victims’ family members or witnesses to
an incident that the victims were innocent of wrongdoing.
Newspaper reports concerning the death of Alejandro Mirabete provide an
interesting example of how incidents labeled as gatillo fácil are reported. On February
20, 1996, seventeen-year-old Mirabete and four of his friends were standing on a street
corner when two plain-clothes policemen asked for their documents. Mirabete ran from
the police, and was caught, immobilized, and shot in the head by Cabo Mario Miranda of
the Federal Police. After spending nine weeks in a coma, Mirabete died.
A March 1, 1996 news article describes Mirabete’s death as the “tragic outcome”
of a “procedure of inquiry.” It states that, “once the police arrived, the youth tried to flee
and was pursued by [Cabo Mariano Miranda of the Federal Police], who later shot him.”
79
“Frustrado asalto.” La Nación. February 1, 1997. 19.
80
“Les fue mal cuando quisieron robar a metro de la comisaría,” La Nación. May 3, 1996.
Convention