Assassination attempt against Argentine vice president fails as gun misfires

euronews.com:

An attempt at killing Argentina's Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner outside her home failed because the handgun misfired, the country's president said.

The man who tried to assassinate the powerful politician, a former president herself, was quickly overpowered by her security officers in the incident Thursday night.

President Alberto Fernández said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it.

"A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger," the president said in a national broadcast following the incident. He said the firearm was loaded with five bullets but "didn't fire even though the trigger was pulled."

The vice president did not appear to have suffered any injury, and the man was overpowered within seconds as he stood among a crowd of her supporters.

President Fernández called it "the most serious incident since we recovered democracy" in 1983 after a military dictatorship and urged political leaders and society at large to repudiate the attempted shooting.

The attack came as Vice President Fernández de Kirchner is facing a trial for alleged acts of corruption during her 2007-2015 presidency — charges that she vehemently denies. 

The case against Fernández de Kirchner, often referred to by her initials CFK, has led her supporters to surround her home in the upscale Recoleta neighbourhood of Argentina's capital.

Video broadcast on local television channels showed Fernández de Kirchner exiting her vehicle surrounded by supporters when a man is seen extending his hand with what looks like a pistol. The vice president ducks as people around the apparent gunman appear shocked at what is happening.

An unverified video posted on social media shows the pistol almost touching Fernández de