Colombian presidential candidate and sitting senator Miguel Uribe Turbay is in intensive care after being shot three times during a campaign event in Bogota, including twice in the head.

The attack occurred Saturday while Uribe was speaking to supporters in a public park, reports the BBC.

A 15-year-old suspect was apprehended at the scene. According to the attorney general’s office, the teen was found carrying a "9mm Glock-type firearm" and had been shot in the leg during the pursuit by law enforcement.

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez described it as a “vile attack” and offered a 3 billion peso reward—roughly $730,000—for information about those who may have planned or supported the shooting.

The motivation behind the attack is still unclear, and an investigation is ongoing.

Video footage shared online appears to show the moment Uribe was shot, causing chaos among those attending the event. He was airlifted to Santa Fe Foundation Hospital, where he underwent surgery on his head and left thigh. Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan confirmed that Uribe was in critical condition late Saturday, and the hospital said Sunday morning that he remains in extremely serious condition in intensive care.

Uribe's wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, released a statement calling on Colombians to pray for her husband’s recovery: “Miguel is currently fighting for his life. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him.”

President Gustavo Petro addressed the nation following the shooting, calling it a “day of pain” and stating that despite their “political difference,” the focus should now be on Uribe’s survival. “What matters most today is that all Colombians focus with the energy of our hearts... on ensuring that Dr Miguel Uribe stays alive,” Petro said.

Uribe is a known critic of Petro’s administration and had declared his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election last October. He is affiliated with the right-wing Centro Democrático party, which called the shooting a direct threat to “democracy and freedom in Colombia.”

The US also responded to the incident. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described it as a “direct threat to democracy” and attributed blame to “violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government.”

Uribe, 39, comes from a well-known political family. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in a failed rescue attempt after being kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel in 1991. His father was a union leader and businessman, and the family has longstanding ties to Colombia’s Liberal Party.

“We cannot return to situations of political violence, nor to times when violence was used to eliminate those who thought differently," Mayor Galan said.