A six-months-pregnant Argentine police officer survived after her partner’s service weapon discharged inside their precinct, and local reports said her unborn child was never at risk.
Marian Jofré, 29, was struck in the back the morning of Sept. 14 while she and her partner handled administrative work inside the 34th Precinct in La Bebida, a city in Argentina’s San Juan province.
The Post reported that Cristian Albarracín’s service weapon went off as he handled it, hitting Jofré during routine station duties rather than a street confrontation.
Investigators treated the shooting as accidental from the start. That did not spare Albarracín from criminal charges over how the gun was handled.
Albarracín told the local prosecutor’s office he and another officer had chased a crime suspect before the station work began.
He said he loaned the service weapon during that operation and did not realize it was still loaded when it came back at the precinct. The other officer was not named.
Jofré had three years on the force. She is married to a police officer and already has an 8-year-old daughter. At the time of the shooting she was six months pregnant.
Medics treated her at the scene and rushed her to an area hospital in critical condition. She was later moved to another medical facility.
Cousin Carla Barman said relatives got no official word for more than eight hours after the shooting, even as news outlets filled the vacuum.
Barman told Telesol Diario:
“The media were already saying she was stable, even though we knew nothing. Some outlets even reported that he had passed away. Yet, as a family, no one came out to give us an answer.”
That gap left the family chasing rumors while Jofré fought for her life. Public agencies that ask for trust owe clearer contact than that when one of their own is down.
Jofré underwent surgery on Sept. 17 to remove the bullet. She left the hospital the next day. Local news accounts cited in the coverage said her pregnancy was never at risk.
Albarracín was taken in for questioning and released the same day as the operation. Prosecutors charged him with negligent injury and failure to perform the duties of a public official.
A judge gave prosecutors eight months to finish the criminal investigation. Albarracín must present himself every month at a local precinct, get approval before traveling outside Argentina, and stay clear of any move that could obstruct evidence or the probe.
His current role with the San Juan Police Department was not clear. The Post sought comment from the department.
A loaded gun in a station house is not a paperwork error. It is a chain-of-custody failure with a human cost, even when no one meant to pull the trigger.
Jofré’s recovery and the safety of her unborn child are the part of this story worth celebrating. The rest is a reminder that negligence with a service weapon still demands a full accounting, and that families of wounded officers should not learn the basics from television first.
