“Two Murders in One Day: Scopolamine Poisoning and Knife Attack in Manizales, Colombia”

Photos | HOMELAND

Added to the death in Los Nogales, presumably due to scopolamine poisoning, another murder was recorded this Saturday afternoon, in the Villa Luz neighborhood, after a knife attack. The city adds 15 homicides in 2023.

THE COUNTRY | MANIZALES

On a hillside in the Los Nogales neighborhood of Manizales, personnel from the National Model of Community Surveillance by Quadrants found a man dead and another unconscious at around 7:30 am this Saturday, with no visible signs of violence on their bodies. Neighbors claim that a car arrived with the lights off and left them both there, then turned on the lights and left the place.

According to preliminary information, the events began in a bar in the city, where the victims were having a party and they were given scopolamine and then abandoned in a green area in Los Nogales.

The fatal victim was identified as Rafael Alberto Gutiérrez Mejía, a well-known lawyer from the Caldas capital and family member of the representative to the Chamber Juana Carolina Londoño Jaramillo. The other affected person was transferred in the morning to a care center in Manizales for evaluation and medical care.

The deceased, Rafael Alberto Gutiérrez Mejía.

Although it could be a case of poisoning by this drug, the causes are not clear.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Harold Esnéider Melo Morán, commander in charge of the Manizales Metropolitan Police, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation is conducting investigations at the scene, verifying the records of the sector’s security cameras and the collection of information from witnesses to clarify what happened and find the person responsible for these events.

Another homicide, in Villa Luz

A man was attacked with a knife this Saturday afternoon in the Villa Luz neighborhood, in the capital of Caldas. The victim was treated, but he died while being transferred to a hospital.

With the two deaths on May 6, the first presumably due to scopolamine poisoning and the second due to an attack with a knife, Manizales has already adjusted to 15 homicides so far in 2023.