Angie Marcela Ramírez Vargas, a 27-year-old Instagram influencer, was shot dead at point-blank range while waiting at traffic lights in her Toyota Land Cruiser Prado on Friday night in Pitalito, a town in the Huila region of southern Colombia.
According to local outlet Caracol, several men on motorcycles approached her stationary car near the Gran Plaza San Antonio shopping centre and opened fire before fleeing. Vargas managed to drive several metres before losing control of the vehicle.
Bystanders and emergency responders rushed to help when the car stopped. She was taken to hospital, where she died from gunshot wounds.
Manhunt and Arrest
Police immediately launched a manhunt and locked down the area. One suspect, a 48-year-old man, was found hiding in undergrowth and arrested. He is suspected of being the passenger who fired the fatal shots. A second suspect fled along a riverbank and remains at large.
Colonel Javier Alberto Duarte, commander of the Huila Police, said: "We set up an operational device and, thanks to the immediate reaction of our officers, we achieved the capture in the act of a 48-year-old man after a wide pursuit."
Investigation and Statistics
The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia and national police are investigating to identify the remaining suspect and uncover the motive. Officers seized a motorcycle and a firearm believed used in the attack. It remains unclear whether Vargas had previously reported any threats or incidents to the Specialised Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against Women, according to El Tiempo.
Since September 2025, Colombia has recorded 621 femicides, according to the Colombian Observatory of Femicides, which cross-references official records with independent media and grassroots reports. Vargas's death brings Pitalito's homicide toll to 46 so far this year, and was the second murder recorded in the municipality on the same day, according to Ecos del Combeima.
