Peru: Prosecutors seek detention for officer in boy's death

Peruvian prosecutors are requesting nine months of pre-trial detention for a police sub-officer accused in the fatal shooting of an 8-year-old boy during a recent police operation in Huacho. The sub-officer, identified as Luis Nazario of the Huacho Emergency Escuadrón, is under investigation for his alleged role in the incident.

The prosecution, led by deputy prosecutor Fernando Ayala Borja, contends that Nazario fired his service weapon disproportionately. The shooting occurred on Avenida Mercedes Indacochea while the boy was traveling with his mother in a mototaxi. Investigators believe there was no real risk that justified the use of lethal force. As part of the investigation, authorities have seized the officer's weapon, initiated ballistics tests, and are collecting video evidence from the scene.

Following the child's death at a Lima hospital, his mother publicly questioned the police's actions. She stated that the officer's decision to draw his weapon was unnecessary, emphasizing that they were not a criminal gang and were unarmed. The family also expressed distress over the lack of communication from the police following the boy's transfer to Lima and demanded accountability.

In response, Máximo Ramírez, the director general of the National Police's Ombudsman Office, confirmed the case would proceed through ordinary justice channels, not military-police courts. Ramírez also criticized the officer's decision to use his firearm, suggesting that alternative methods were available to de-escalate the situation and that the circumstances did not warrant such a response.