Several deaths in Bogotá after the death of Javier Ordoñez 3:31
(CNN Spanish) -
Javier Ordóñez died after police officers detained him and bent him to the ground using electro-shock guns while he asked them several times to "please, please" stop.
The police procedure was recorded in a video that went viral and sparked protests and riots in Bogotá.
The 43-year-old's family says the police "murdered him."
The Bogotá Police regretted the events, dismissed the two policemen involved in the incident, whose identity has not been disclosed, and is conducting an investigation.
The Colombian Defense Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, rejected this Thursday "any act of a member of the police that incurs violations of the law or ignorance of internal regulations" and said that there is a policy of "zero tolerance" with the violation of legal regulations.
Criminal proceedings are opened against two police officers in Colombia for suspicions of brutality against a man who later died
What we know about the death of Javier Ordóñez in Bogotá
(Credit: Eliana Garzón)
Javier Ordóñez was "a very helpful person"
Ordóñez had two careers: he was an engineer and a lawyer.
He had two children, ages 15 and 11, Eliana Garzón, his sister-in-law, told CNN en Español.
«He was a super badass dad with them.
He put himself at their level so that they had the confidence to tell them things and he had an impressive heart, "said Garzón, whose sister was married to Ordoñez for 11 years.
"He was a very helpful person," he added.
Garzón says that his family is in "shock" after the death and the protests that were generated demanding justice for Ordóñez.
"It's like a mess of emotions in which you also have a little to save them to be strong," she said.
"[We are] taking care of the emotional integrity of my nephews, which is what interests us most at this moment."
The family seeks justice for Javier Ordóñez
Garzón says that the circumstances of Ordóñez's death occurred when he was chatting with his friends, he left his residential unit to buy beer and, when the police carried out an operation, they detained him and the assault occurred.
In the images, two policemen are observed subjecting the man to the ground with electric shocks from an electro-shock gun on several occasions.
You hear how the man asks "please" stop.
Several passersby who record the video ask the agents to stop assaulting him.
Officers are also heard several times asking the man on the ground to put his "hands back".
"They were murderers, they killed my brother-in-law," Ordóñez's sister-in-law said.
"My brother-in-law did not die in a police procedure."
Several deaths in Bogotá after the death of Javier Ordoñez 3:31
The circumstances prior to this operation are not clear.
CNN asked police for details, which forwarded to official statements.
«Our justice, the justice that we seek is legal.
We do not want a disciplinary trial against them [the police], we want a criminal trial and we are working for them.
All we are going to do is by legal means ».
The protests
They investigate two Bogotá police officers after disturbing video 3:05
Ordóñez's death sparked protests in Bogotá that left at least 9 dead, 55 civilians were injured, and were admitted to hospitals for blunt force injuries.
Among the dead is a 17-year-old minor, who arrived at a hospital wounded with a firearm and died, General Jorge Luis Vargas, director of citizen security for the Police, reported on Thursday.
He added that together with the Attorney General's Office they are verifying the identities and ages of the deceased.
The Police reported 93 uniformed men were injured, among them a captain was hit by a firearm, according to General Moreno Maldonado.
The mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, said Thursday that the Ordóñez case "is possibly the most serious thing that has happened in our city."
"At this point, from the Bogotá Mayor's Office, we can affirm that last night there was indiscriminate use of force, of firearms in various parts of the city by members of the Police."
The Attorney General of Colombia, Francisco Barbosa, described the circumstances in which Javier Órdoñez died as "inadmissible", while expressing his solidarity with the family and his commitment to clarify "in the next few days" the case.
“Due to the seriousness of the damage evidenced and because of the competition, today I have appointed a specialized prosecutor from the human rights department to bring those responsible to justice with speed and due diligence.
In the same way, we reject the vandalism actions that took place yesterday in the country.
These deplorable events are also the subject of investigation, ”said the Colombian attorney general.
"Nothing justifies violence"
Garzón says that although he does not know in depth the events in which Ordóñez died, the family has received comments about the fact that Ordóñez broke the law and misconduct on his part.
“We are not justifying that Javier has broken the law or has committed an act that he should not have done, but that does not mean that because one breaks the law or because he makes a mistake he has to be killed.
"You cannot compare or justify attacking someone with a fist to being attacked with a
teaser
or with a gun," Garzón said.
President Duque, who rejected the abuse of authority, but applauded the "iron gallantry of the police," told the family on Thursday that "these facts will be investigated with such rigor and promptness" and that "it is also being done the internal investigation in the police force and we hope to have a clear answer in order to have absolute certainty about the facts ”.
Ordóñez's family asked for respect for the police officers involved and their families, as well as respect for them in the middle of this case.
Garzón rejected the acts of violence that were registered in Bogotá in the early hours of Thursday and said that, although there is fatigue on the part of the citizens, there was also vandalism.
"We convened a peaceful vigil in the building where he lived," Garzón said.
"We were friends, family, some media, but it was overshadowed due to protests, excesses and vandalism."
For her, the protests were “a sum of many things: of a citizenry tired of abuses, but it is also the sum of people who are only looking to appear and go out to damage everything and of authorities who have lost all credibility".
Javier Ordonez