Security cameras captured the moment of the attack. Witnesses only realised what had happened when the van swerved out of control and crashed into a palm tree.
Relatives of Juan Carlos Gustavo Mejía Uribe, a well-known rancher from Córdoba, went to the Legal Medicine headquarters in Montería to claim his body. The 63-year-old man died from several gunshots when he was about to board his white Toyota Prado truck, parked in front of the Centro Familiar Cristiano church.
According to a report from the judicial police to which the Investigative Unit of El Tiempo had access, Mejía was approached by a hitman while he was answering a call on his cell phone.
The murderer, who had attended the religious service camouflaged among the parishioners, approached and shot him twice with a weapon equipped with a silencer.
We recommend you read: A man is murdered in the parking lot of an evangelical church, who was the victim?
Security cameras captured the moment of the attack. Witnesses realized what had happened only when the truck moved uncontrollably and crashed into a palm tree.
Who was the businessman?
Born in Caucasia, Antioquia, Mejía was a well-known cattle rancher in Córdoba and had interests in the pharmaceutical sector. EL TIEMPO revealed that he had several assets, including two apartments in the Suramericana sector in Medellín, one in Montería in the exclusive El Recreo sector, and nine cattle ranches in Caucasia (Antioquia), as well as farms in Cereté (Córdoba) and San Martín (Meta).
The Investigative Unit of the aforementioned media outlet indicated that Mejía was facing a legal process for alleged extortion of the company Carbomax de Colombia SAS, linked to events in 2021.
He was accused of aggravated attempted extortion, in complicity with José Miguel De Moya Hernández, alias “Julián” or “Chirimoya”, leader of the Clan del Golfo.
Supposedly, They demanded 2 billion pesos to not interrupt the operation of the ‘El Campano’ mine. The businessman received house arrest, arguing that he was the main person responsible for a minor, in the absence of the mother.
On September 21, a criminal court in the Montería Circuit ordered Mejía’s release, even though he should have been sent to Las Mercedes prison.
Don’t forget to read: A man was murdered while he was in his vehicle: his body was ejected
Carbomax requested an investigation into why the incarceration order was not complied with. The defendant, at the time, did not want to comment on the case, but his lawyer, Marlon Díaz said that his client was protected by the presumption of innocence and that they were awaiting the preparatory hearing for the trial.
Attorney Díaz mentioned that the case against Mejía was in the preparatory phase of trial. On April 30, he requested the exclusion of the case, arguing irregularities in the assignment of the case to a prosecutor. Despite opposition from the prosecution and the victims, the Attorney General’s Office supported the defense’s argument. The judge was scheduled to make a decision on July 2, but the case was shelved following Mejía’s death.
