Medellín student dies after armed school incident

Johan Sebastián Ovalle Vélez, a 17-year-old tenth-grade student, died on Friday, September 25, at the Hospital San Vicente Fundación in Medellín. He had been hospitalized since September 9 following an incident at the Institución Educativa Gabriel García Márquez in the Villa Hermosa neighborhood.

On the morning of September 9, the teenager entered the school through a fence armed with a less-lethal weapon. He fired several shots, causing students and teachers to seek refuge in classrooms. Following the shots, the student sustained a self-inflicted head injury.

Authorities are investigating a suspicious detail: after the student was wounded, two men who were not part of the school community entered the premises and removed the weapon. Police have since captured two men, aged 37 and 46, in connection with illegal possession of weapons and the alleged use of a minor to commit crimes.