Argentina's Latest Femicide Case Leaves 2 Girls Dead, 2 Wounded

Two girls were killed and two were shot and remain in serious condition when a man opened fire on them outside a club on Saturday night in Buenos Aires, following public outcry in recent months against unabated femicide cases in Argentina.

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The attack was carried out by the former boyfriend of one of th evictims. Luis Esteban Weiman, a 36-year-old private security guard, was detained by authorities after gathering evidence against him. Denise Daiana Juarez, 17, had been his girlfriend three months before the attack and died after her body was riddled with nine shots. Her best friend Sabrina Barrientos, 15, was also killed after suffering six shots. 

The other two girls, Magali and Nemesis, 16 and 15, were seriously injured. Magali was shot in the leg and Nemesis was shot in one leg, in the liver, and on one shoulder. Both were hospitalized in Florencio Varela, south of Buenos Aires.

According to an employee who was a witness at the scene, the four friends wanted to take a car but then decided to walk to the bus stop.

"A moment later we heard the shooting, we went out and we saw them lying in the street, one of them wanted to scream but she had a bullet in her throat," said one of the employees quoted by Argentina's La Nacion newspaper.

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In an official statement, the Security Ministry reported that Weiman lived near the place of the massacre, worked as a security employee and had access to weapons. Authorities also confirmed the finding of six rounds of 9 mm bullets — the same type found at the crime scene. 

On Sunday, Denise's uncle told police that his niece had been dating a man much older than her, and when their relationship ended three months ago the ex-boyfriend began to harass her through Facebook.

The most recent femicides cases in the country that sparked mass outrage were Lucia Perez, a 16-year-old girl who was brutally raped and killed by a group of men, and Chiara Paez, 14, who was expecting a baby and was murdered by her boyfriend and buried in his grandparent's garden.

Several organizations and human rights activists have carried out mass mobilizations against gender violence in the last two years and called for a national women's march on March 8 to demand the eradication of all forms of violence against women.