Argentine police officer Marian Jofré survived a bullet to the back from her partner’s service weapon inside their precinct while six months pregnant, and local reports said the baby was never at risk.
On the morning of Sept. 14, Jofré and her partner, Cristian Albarracín, were handling administrative work at the 34th Precinct in La Bebida, a city in Argentina’s western San Juan province, when Albarracín’s service weapon discharged and struck her in the back.
The Post reported that investigators treated the shooting as accidental from the start, that Jofré was rushed from the scene in critical condition, and that she later left the hospital after surgery to remove the bullet, with local news accounts saying her pregnancy was not endangered.
Jofré is 29, three years on the force, married to another police officer, and already the mother of an 8-year-old daughter. She was six months pregnant when the round hit her.
What followed was a familiar mix of medical recovery, thin official communication to the family, and criminal charges against a public employee who mishandled a firearm on duty.
The local prosecutor’s office said Albarracín was handling the service weapon when it fired and hit Jofré.
Albarracín told that office he and another officer had been chasing a crime suspect earlier. He said he had loaned the weapon and did not realize it was still loaded when it came back.
The identity of the officer who borrowed the gun was not named in the reporting. The precise make and model of the weapon were not detailed either.
For officers who carry guns as part of the job, that sequence is the core failure: a returned sidearm, an assumption it was safe, and a discharge inside a police station during paperwork.
Jofré was treated at the scene, then taken to an area hospital in critical condition and later moved to another medical facility. On Sept. 17 she underwent surgery to remove the bullet. She was discharged the day after the operation.
Local news reports said she was never at risk of losing the pregnancy. The baby’s sex and any later delivery details were not given.
While Jofré fought through those first medical hours, her relatives say they got silence from authorities.
Cousin Carla Barman told Telesol Diario that more than eight hours after the shooting, the family still had no direct answers, even as coverage spread.
Barman said:
"The media were already saying she was stable, even though we knew nothing."
She also said:
"Some outlets even reported that he had passed away. Yet, as a family, no one came out to give us an answer."
That gap, press reports circulating while next of kin waited, is a basic accountability problem for any police agency. A wounded officer’s family should not learn her condition from television first.
Albarracín was taken in for questioning. He was released the same day Jofré had her operation.
Prosecutors charged him with negligent injury and failure to perform the duties of a public official.
A judge gave the prosecutor’s office eight months to finish the criminal investigation. Albarracín was ordered to present himself every month at a local precinct, to get approval before traveling outside Argentina, and not to obstruct evidence or the probe.
His current assignment with the San Juan Police Department was not clear in the reporting. The Post sought comment from the department.
Negligent injury and a failure-of-duty count are not “gotcha” paperwork. They are the legal system’s way of saying a sworn officer’s careless handling of a loaded weapon injured a colleague and broke the standard the public pays for.
The verified chain is short and hard. Two officers on administrative duty. A service weapon discharged in the precinct. A six-months-pregnant officer hit in the back. Critical condition, transfer, surgery three days later, discharge the next day. Pregnancy described as not at risk. Partner released the day of the operation, then charged, then placed under monthly check-ins and travel limits while prosecutors work an eight-month clock.
No verbatim quotes from the prosecutor, the judge, or Albarracín beyond that paraphrased account appear in the available reporting. Hospital names were not published. The calendar year for the September dates was not stated in the seed account.
Even with those blanks, the public facts are enough to judge the conduct. A loaded gun came back into a partner’s hands. It went off inside a police station. A pregnant officer paid the price in blood and surgery. Her family sat in the dark for hours.
People who wear a badge and carry a sidearm do not get to treat a returned weapon like a desk stapler. When they do, charges for negligent injury and failure of official duty are the minimum the public should expect, and clear, timely word to the wounded officer’s family should never be optional.
