A mass shooting at a Bogotá nightclub left eleven dead and prompted an international manhunt ending in extradition from Spain.
Key Facts
- Date
- June 24, 2000
- Fatalities
- 11 people
- Injured
- 7 people
- Primary perpetrator
- Juan de Jesús Lozano Velásquez, age 26
- Weapon used
- Uzi machine gun
- Sentence
- 40 years imprisonment
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
A friend of perpetrator Juan de Jesús Lozano Velásquez sought backup after a young woman refused to dance with him at the Reminiscencias dance club, anticipating a possible altercation. Velásquez and companions Henry Orozco Casas and Julián Andrés Barbosa arrived at the venue prepared for a confrontation.
On June 24, 2000, Velásquez opened fire with an Uzi machine gun on patrons inside the Reminiscencias dance club in Bogotá, Colombia. He fatally shot eleven people, including his associate Barbosa by accident, and wounded seven others before fleeing the scene with Orozco Casas.
Velásquez evaded initial capture and fled to Spain, where he was eventually apprehended. Following extradition to Colombia, he was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison, making the case one of the more notable nightclub mass shooting prosecutions in Colombian history.