Formosa: A Rural School Teacher shot dead by her Ex-partner

After the crime of Úrsula Bahillo in Rojas, a new femicide was perpetrated by an agent of the security forces: Monday night, a 44-year-old teacher was shot and killed by her ex-partner in a small town in the province of Formosa.

After the crime, the man, 59 years old, a retired officer of the provincial police, sat on the sidewalk in front of the home, as confirmed by sources close to the case. He committed suicide by shooting himself.

The event occurred shortly after 8 p.m. this Monday in the Malvinas neighborhood, Estanislao del Campo, a town of just over five thousand inhabitants located 235 kilometers from the provincial capital.

Personnel from the city police station received a call from residents of the neighborhood, in which they alerted to have heard an argument and shots in a house located on Juan Bautista Alberdi street.

The alleged doer of femicide, , was found shot in the head at the door of Mirna’s house. 

Upon arriving at the address in question, the troops encountered the lifeless body of Carlos Medina, a retired noncommissioned officer of the Formosa police, lying on the sidewalk. The man had a bullet hole and a few meters from one of his hands it was found a 32 caliber gun with which it is estimated that he fired the shot.

Then the policemen entered the home. Thus, in the living room of the home, about 8 meters from the front door of the house, The body of Mirna Palma, 44 years old and a teacher at a rural school in Paraje 503, was found, on the outskirts of Estanislao del Campo.

The body of the teacher had a bullet hole in her face and an exit hole in her neck.

The crime scene, in Estanislao del Campo, a town located just over 200 km from the capital of Formosa 

According to the first data collected by the officers who came to the place, the neighbors indicated that Palma and Medina no longer lived together. They had parted ways a few months ago and they had no children in common. He did have children from a previous marriage.

Neighbors were unable to verify the content of the discussion prior to the shooting. Although some inhabitants of Estanislao del Campo assured that Palma had already warned about Medina’s violent behavior, The local authorities did not find any official complaint by the teacher for gender violence against her former partner.

The image of Mirna Palma, at the door of the rural school in place 503, where she worked 

In turn, the local police was able to confirm that Medina had all the corresponding legal documentation for the possession and use of the weapon with which he would have taken the life of his former partner and with which he would have committed suicide.

The cause was left to the investigating judge of the 3rd Judicial District, the Soledad Plaza judge. In turn, the prosecutor acting in the case is the doctor Rubén Darío Gon.

While, It is estimated that the body of Mirna Palma will be veiled in Estanislao del Campo and buried in the local cemetery in the course of today Tuesday and tomorrow morning. The presence of several residents of Paraje 503 and of the town of Formosa itself is expected to make the last goodbye to the murdered teacher.

The case of the teacher is not an isolated event from any point of view. While the Buenos Aires Justice investigates the crime of Úrsula with the officer Matías Martínez isolated in a cell, in Argentina, 214 alleged femicides belonged or had belonged to a security force, from 2008 to the present, according to the monitoring of La Casa del Encuentro.

In a decade, 48 women were murdered by their partners or former police partners, according to data from the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS).