Mariano Gaik Aldrovandi
07/11/2020 - 21:26
- Clarín.com
- Police
"El Paisa" awaited this July 9 with great anxiety. He was 18 years old and that meant a lot to him. He was going to be able to go out and look for a blank job and use the salary for what he liked so much: horses and the gaucho tradition. What he and his family least imagined was that in full celebration, Lucas was going to become a new victim of the easy trigger.
Lucas Nahuel Verón was shot dead in the chest on Friday morning in Llerena and Coronel Achaga in González Catán, La Matanza party. A couple of Bonaerense police officers are detained for the crime: Cintia Duarte and Ezequiel Benítez, both 26 years old.
The family of "El Paisa" find no explanation for what happened. They say they did not want to identify them or that something had previously happened between the boys and the police. "It was pure evil," Cristian Caraballo, Lucas's uncle, tells Clarín . And he says that the two agents are from the neighborhood and known for mistreating the neighbors. "They have a history of violence. They always throw the patrol car over people who walk down the street, ”he says.
Lucas Nahuel Verón (18) was murdered by police the night he was celebrating his birthday.
"Lucas was a very good boy, very loved by all and incapable of disrespecting someone of his age or an elder," says Cristian. El Paisa, the youngest of four brothers, inherited the nickname from his grandfather and father, from whom he also derived his passion for horses and the gaucho lifestyle.
“He loved horses, making cars for parades, everything related to the field and he helped the boys he saw who were walking with a broken car. He was a person of solidarity with everyone, "remembers his uncle. "He wanted to turn 18 to go to work in a supermarket and have money to buy his gaucho and saddle things," he says.
On Thursday Lucas had organized a small gathering for his birthday with his family and a handful of friends. To continue the celebration, around 1.50 on Friday he went out with a friend on a motorcycle to buy more drinks . When they returned, a patrol car without lights began to follow them and collided with them from behind, according to what Cristian told Clarín .
“They fall off the bike, they both get up and run. Lucas makes a few meters, brakes, turns and there the policeman who had gotten off his cell phone shoots him . The friend keeps running and the patrol car leaves, ”said the uncle.
Hearing the shots, the neighbors came out to see what had happened and saw "El Paisa" lying on the floor. His friend went to the birthday boy's house, one and a half blocks away, in Llerena and Riglos, to tell his family what had happened. So they came to his aid in a car and took him to the "Simply Evita" Hospital in González Catán. The young man died a few minutes after entering.
Ezequiel Benítez and Cintia Duarte, who were charged by the prosecutor Juan Pablo Tahtagian for the crime of "aggravated homicide by the use of a firearm" for the crime of Lucas Nahuel Verón.
The case recalls the Monte Massacre that had four boys as victims. The two events began as an inexplicable persecution and with fatal outcome. For Lucas's family, as in Monte, in this case there is also a cover-up.
The first thing that caught their attention was that when they arrived at the hospital, there were already three police officers at the door. "They wanted to take the friend to testify and, since he is 17 years old and younger, we did not leave him," said Cristian.
“I took him later and when the mother arrived they took a statement from him. He said everything just as he had told us, "said Cristian. On top of reviewing the videos they recorded with their cell phones, they discovered that Duarte and Benítez were in the hospital and at the police station , as if nothing had happened. The investigators further determined that the officers did not inform their superiors what had happened.
Despite the fact that the boy said that there were police involved, the Buenosairean continued with the investigation. Later, the Police went back to look for Lucas's family and his friend, who was with them. "They checked the cameras and in one you can see the mobile, but not clearly," said Cristian.
Lucas was passionate about the gaucho tradition.
“There were commissioners from all sides, department heads. They said that the boy had lied and that one of the films shows a white car. With the prosecutor present, they call him the boy and they begin to change the statement , which says that they had stolen and that a white car ran and hit them, "Cristian said, saying that they made him sign the act even though his mother was not .
“But later neighbors appeared to say that they had seen that it was the patrol car that followed them and shot them. The white car turned out to be from a neighbor, who knows the boys and had nothing to do with it, "he added.
In a new review of the images, investigators determined that the cell phone involved in the episode was the one manned by agents Cintia Duarte and Ezequiel Benítez, from the Community Patrol Command. In addition to sharing the police car, the two policemen are a couple and have two children.
This Saturday, the two defendants refused to testify before the prosecutor Juan Pablo Tahtagian, from the Thematic Homicide Prosecutor's Office in La Matanza, who asked that they be detained for "aggravated homicide," according to judicial sources in Clarín. The official also ordered that all the evidence produced be analyzed by judicial experts or federal forces. For this reason, the autopsy on Lucas's body was performed at the judicial morgue in Lomas de Zamora.
In addition, Internal Affairs of the Buenos Aires Ministry of Security disaffected the two policemen and withdrew the uniform, badge and weapons use permit.
Lucas's parents are the only ones who will be able to fire their son due to the protocols that govern the coronavirus. His family and those who knew him are heartbroken. “There is no explanation for what happened and less than it was this way. That the people who are there to take care of you do this, it is not understood ”, regrets Cristian.