Peru police hunt for shooter after Indonesian diplomat ‘assassinated’ in Lima
Zetro Leonardo Purba was shot three times as he arrived at his apartment building on his bicycle
An Indonesian diplomat was shot dead in Peru’s capital as he arrived on a bicycle to his apartment building, police said on Tuesday, in what local authorities called an “assassination”.
Zetro Leonardo Purba, 40, who was attached to the Indonesian embassy in Lima, was shot three times on Monday night. Authorities said Purba was taken to a hospital but was later declared dead.
Officials did not immediately provide a motive for the shooting. But Interior Minister Carlos Malaver told lawmakers the attack was a “qualified homicide in the form of a contract killing”.
Police released footage from two surveillance cameras that show a person wearing a helmet firing twice at the diplomat, who then falls to the ground.
The images then show the suspect shooting the diplomat a third time and fleeing on a motorcycle driven by another person.
Malaver added that nothing was stolen from the diplomat, who had arrived in Peru five months ago.
“They were waiting for him and the bullets hit him in the head; they wanted to kill him,” Malaver said of the suspects.