Lucas case: Two of the three accused police officers admitted to firing their weapons

Judicial sources informed Télam that the defendants said they had gotten out of the Nissan Tiida car of the Summary division and Brigades of Comuna 4 to the cry of “police” and with the identification vests on, and that they also sounded the siren, although they did not turn on the blue lights of the so-called “chichón” that was put on the roof of the road because they did not work. After spending the night in a cell of the Superintendency of Investigations of the Federal Police, Inspector Gabriel Isassi, Senior Officer Fabián López and Officer José Nievas were transferred to the Buenos Aires courts around 7 in the morning and from 8.30 a.m. they began to parade before Judge Martín Del Viso. the defense lawyer of the three, Alfredo Oliván, and Judge Del Viso, while prosecutors Leonel Gómez Barbella and Andres Heim, of Procuvin, did so virtually through the Zoom platform.The three policemen were investigated accused of the crimes of “doubly aggravated homicide for having been committed by members of the police forces abusing their functions and with treachery of Lucas González, the attempt of the same crime against the other three adolescents, plus illegal deprivation of liberty and ideological falsehood”. According to judicial sources, none of them agreed to answer questions but made an extensive and detailed account of how the events occurred, and both Isassi and Nievas broke down repeatedly while explaining the circumstances of the episode in which Lucas died.In the story, the police said that they worked in villa 21-24 within the framework of an investigation ordered by the prosecutor’s office 20 of the city linked to the sale of drugs and that they had “as their objective” a home that they had been controlling because it was suspected that it was a drug bunker. According to what they said, in that context they saw the blue Suran car in which Lucas González was mobilizing with his three teenage friends “in a suspicious attitude”, stopped in the Ochava de Iriarte, and that when he resumed the march “they followed up.” They denied having carried out a chase and said that they put on their vests, sounded the siren to stop their march and that they went down to the cry of ‘police’,” explained a source of the investigation. At that moment, they said, the Suran started to avoid identification and in that situation, they felt in danger and, therefore, they shot.” Nievas says that when they were about to ram him, he fired four or five bullets in front of the children. Lopez said he circled the car from behind and when he heard the first shots, he also fired several shots. The only one who did not mention the shootings was Isassi, who made no reference to that situation,” the source added. According to the account they made before the judge, none of the three said they saw weapons in the possession of the teenagers, while both Isassi and López interrupted their statement on several occasions because they broke and cried. Judicial sources explained that, now, the judge has ten days to resolve the procedural situations of the accused and that the testimony of some witnesses is expected in the coming days, including a man who walked a dog and who said he had witnessed the episode. In addition, the results of the ballistic surveys and cell phones of the three defendants are awaited in the coming hours. With the ballistic survey, it is expected to be able to determine from which of the three weapons the shot that caused Lucas’ death departed, the judicial sources consulted said.

Original source in Spanish