A two-year-old girl has been gunned down in a hail of bullets fired through a window after assassins targeted her family's bakery in what police believe may have been part of a gang turf war linked to her jailed father's criminal underworld ties.
Little Celeste Valentina Osorio Duque was inside Santander Bakery in Polonuevo, a town in Atlantico department on Colombia's Caribbean coast, on the night of 19th July, with her mother and other relatives when two men arrived outside on a motorcycle.
Police said the pillion passenger pushed a gun through one of the bakery's windows and fired several shots into the shop.
One of the bullets struck Celeste in the head.
She was taken first to the municipal hospital in Polonuevo before being transferred to Reina Catalina Clinic in nearby Baranoa, where doctors confirmed she had died from her injuries.
Authorities immediately launched a manhunt and, within 24 hours, tracked down the alleged gunman, identified as 20-year-old Felipe Barliza Llanes.
Police said he was arrested in the neighbouring town of Baranoa as he tried to reach a transport terminal in nearby Barranquilla to board a long-distance bus to Bogotá and flee the region.
He is now facing prosecution on suspicion of aggravated homicide, extortion and illegal possession of a firearm.
Atlantico Governor Eduardo Verano praised the swift operation, saying: "We want to express our satisfaction with the rapid reaction of our police authorities, who have already captured the murderer of little Celeste Valentina."
The regional government had earlier offered a reward of up to COP 20 million (GBP 4,670) for information leading to the killers.
Investigators initially focused on extortion threats made against Celeste's family after her grandmother, who owns the bakery, reported receiving WhatsApp messages demanding either a pistol or COP six million (GBP 1,400).
The messages were accompanied by a video filmed outside the bakery, along with photographs of firearms and a grenade, while the senders claimed they were monitoring the family's movements.
However, the investigation took a dramatic turn after authorities revealed that Celeste's father, John Osorio, had already been behind bars for more than a month before the shooting.
Osorio was arrested on 10th June during raids by the GAULA anti-extortion unit and placed in pre-trial detention on allegations of drug trafficking and carrying out extortion for the powerful Los Costenos criminal gang.
Because he was already in prison when the bakery was attacked on 19th July, investigators now suspect the gunmen may have been carrying out a targeted act of retaliation or part of a gang turf war linked to his alleged criminal activities, rather than a straightforward extortion attack against the business.
Atlantico Interior Secretary Jose Antonio Luque said prosecutors were continuing to examine both lines of inquiry while working to establish the motive for the killing.
Speaking through tears during her daughter's funeral on 23rd July, Celeste's mother, Aliana Duque Pineda, said: "On Sunday some guys arrived and fired shots at the business. My little girl was there playing. Children are not touched. Children are respected."
Hundreds of mourners joined Celeste's funeral in Polonuevo, where her mother carried her daughter's rag doll and grieving residents held a banner reading: "Don't touch our children."
The investigation remains ongoing as prosecutors work to determine whether others were involved in the attack and establish its motive.
(Marija Stojkoska/Newsflash)
