Colombia presidential candidate shot in head

A Colombian presidential candidate has been shot and seriously injured at a campaign event in the capital, Bogota.

Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was hit three times – reportedly twice in the head – by a gunman while he was addressing a small crowd in a park on Saturday.

Police arrested a man at the scene. Uribe is in critical condition in hospital, according to Colombian media.

Uribe’s Centro Democratico party condemned the attack, saying that it “endangers the life of a political leader… democracy and freedom in Colombia”.

Phone footage shared online appears to show the moment when he was shot in the head mid-speech, prompting those gathered to flee in panic.

Paramedics said he had been shot three times, including twice in the head, AFP news agency reported.

The government of left wing President Gustavo Petro said it “categorically and forcefully” condemned the attack as an “act of violence not only against his person, but also against democracy.”

Uribe, a well-known member of the political establishment in Colombia, announced his candidacy for next year’s presidential election in October.

He is the son of Diana Turbay, a journalist who was killed in 1991 in a rescue attempt after she had been kidnapped by the Medellin drugs cartel run at the time by Pablo Escobar.