When Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in the head on 7 June, it shocked the international community. After years of growing peace, the attack was a callback to Colombia's most violent years, when cartel-ordered assassinations were a common occurrence.
But the identity of the alleged shooter proved even more shocking – a 15-year-old child.
A video, shared widely online, shows police arresting a young man with a boyish face and hair over his shoulders, wearing blue jeans and a green T-shirt.
Media has reported that after he was swiftly arrested, he cried out: "I did it for money for my family."
He subsequently pleaded not guilty, the prosecutor's office said.
Turbay has remained in critical condition at a clinic in Bogotá since last Saturday. Authorities are now searching for the people behind this crime, who allegedly used the boy to carry out the hit.
Unfortunately, if it proves to be true, the boy's story is all too common. According to the Colombian Ombudsman's Office, 409 children and teenagers were recruited by armed groups in 2024, an increase from the 342 cases reported in 2023.
Authorities acknowledge that the data is underestimated.
Decades of armed conflict and organised crime have left thousands of children victims of violence in Colombia.
Over the years, many have been recruited by now-extinct drug organizations like the Medellin cartel led by Pablo Escobar and left-wing guerrillas, paramilitary forces and new armed and criminal groups.
"Minors were even used by public forces in undercover missions. Every single actor of the conflict has recruited minors," Max Yuri, director of the Institute of Political Studies at Antioquia University, told BBC Mundo.
The child hitmen hired by Escobar
In the 1980s, many youngsters and minors were picked up by Escobar to carry out hits.
"It was known as the practice of 'Los suizos'. Many youngsters and minors joined suicidal missions," Jorge Mantilla, a criminologist and security consultant and security coordinator for the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development, told BBC Mundo.
One of the most infamous was John Jairo Arias Tascón, known as 'Pinina,' considered to be one of the hitmen closest to Escobar.
He is linked to several high-profile crimes, such as the assassination of the minister of justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in 1984; the attack on Avianca Flight 203, in which 110 people died in 1989; as well as several murders of politicians, journalists, civilians, and criminal adversaries.
Pinina died aged 29 in a shoot-out with police in 1990 in Medellin. It is believed he started as a hitman as young as 15-years-old.
On 22 March 1990, another 14-year-old boy named Andrés Arturo Gutiérrez Maya shot and killed presidential candidate Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa at Bogotá's El Dorado airport.
Then there was Gerardo Gutierrez, "Yerry", another young man who ended up being the main suspect in the killing of presidential candidate Carlos Pizarro Leongomez in 1990.
Escobar was initially blamed for the crime, but he denied any involvement.
According to the Historical Memory Center in Colombia, "Yerry" was shot dead by a bodyguard. Years later, the leader of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, Carlos Castaño, admitted that he trained the hitman and planned the crime along with corrupted Colombian officials.
To this day, the murder of Pizarro has not been fully solved.