A key witness who was 50 meters from where the so-called “Monte Massacre” took place, in which four boys died after a police pursuit and subsequent crash in San Miguel del Monte in May 2019, stated at the hearing of this Thursday, May 11, when he saw a policeman in a shooting position with the “intention to finish” to the victims after the impact of the car against the trailer of a truck, and that later he heard a shot from a firearm.
“After the loud noise of the crash, I see the driver of a police mobile get off in a shooting position with a firearm in his hand. I lose sight of the driver and hear a firearm detonate,” he said. Ignacio Cattaneoa resident of the town of San Miguel del Monte who declared during the fourth hearing of the jury trial that the former Buenos Aires police captain is accused Ruben Alberto Garcia already the officers Leandro Ecilap, Mariano Ibanez y Manuel Monreal.
Thus, the witness indicated that the four agents had “intent to finish off” to the deceased Daniel Samson (13), Gonzalo Dominguez (14), Camila Lopez (13) y Hannibal Suarez (22). I was also traveling in that car Rocio Quagliarellocurrently 17 years old, who survived the chase and subsequent crash, for which she suffered serious injuries to her arm and both legs, and remained hospitalized for 25 days in the hospital el cruceIn the town of Florencio Varela.
This situation adds to story of the driver of the impacted truckwho this Wednesday claimed to have heard four shots before the crash and two after, and to Gonzalo’s autopsy report, from which it emerged that the teenager had a bullet lodged in one of his thighs, although judicial sources clarified that said shot was received during the police pursuit and not after the collision.
Cattaneo’s testimony was made through the platform Microsoft Teamsbecause the witness is living in Spain, and it began after 10:30 a.m., with the attentive listening of the 12 jurors and the judge in charge of the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) IV, Carolina Crispianiwho moderates the debate.
“I was about to go to sleep when I heard a very loud noise. I see that it was due to a crash on the road. My intention was to go out and help possible victims. When I go out into the street, the first thing I see is on the corner a cloud of dust and I see a police mobile stop dragging the wheels”, began Ignacio in his story.
The witness then stated that he believed he was witnessing “a confrontation”, since he saw the patrol driver get out of the vehicle “in a shooting position”, for which he took cover. After that, he heard an explosion.
“It was not well understood what had happened. A uniformed man, who did not approach the scene, told me that there were some jets that came from the Montemar neighborhood. He saw a mountain of earth. When I look more closely, I see that there were two bodies on the street and a scattered seat. Later I see the front of a vehicle. That’s when I realized it was a car that had split in half,” he described.
Later, Cattaneo said he had seen “two injured girls” in reference to Rocío Quagliarello and Camila López.
“They had long blond hair, they were lying down. One of them, only one, could move and tried to get up by lifting her torso, from the waist down she did not move. She complained of pain. She tried to call the friend who It wasn’t moving,” he said.
The trial began last Monday with the election of the popular jury that within six days must define whether the accused police officers are guilty or not guilty of the crimes of “aggravated homicide due to abuse of duty as a member of the police forces qualified by employment of firearms, and violation of the duties of a public official”, legal figure that has a sentence in expectation of imprisonment or life imprisonment.
In the guidelines of the accusation, the trial prosecutor Mariano Sibuet said that the accused police officers committed a “heinous act“who acted in a manner “inmotivated” and stated that the victims, “when surrounded”lived moments of “terror, anguish and fear”for which he asked the popular jury to “issue a fair opinion to do honor to justice”.
The so-called “San Miguel del Monte Massacre” occurred at dawn on May 20, 2019, when members of the local police station chased a Fiat 147 along the Route 3 collector in which four adolescents were traveling, three of them A 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, along with a 22-year-old.
The five boys were listening to music when the officers began to chase them for no reason and, according to the records of the municipality’s security cameras, to shoot them, since a policeman was observed in the place of the patrol companion, with half a body outside and in shooting attitude.
As a result, the car in which the young people were traveling collided with a trailer that was stopped on the road.
