Senator Shot in Head ‘Needs a Miracle’ as Colombia Reels

A protest against violence the day after the attack on Uribe in Medellin, Colombia, on June 8.Photographer: Jaime Saldarriaga/AFP/Getty Images

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By Matthew Bristow and Patricia Laya

June 8, 2025 at 9:50 PM EDT

Updated on

June 9, 2025 at 4:35 PM EDT

Last Thursday, presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay warned that Colombia was fast sinking back into its violent past. Two days later, a gunman shot him in the head during a rally.

The 39-year-old opposition senator now “needs a miracle,” his wife said Monday in a social media post, urging people to pray for him as he fights for life in a Bogota hospital. At the same time, prosecutors are trying to find out who may have ordered the teenage suspect to pull the trigger.