Assassination attempt on Argentina VP Kirchner fails when gun misfires: president

A man tried to kill Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner outside her home in Buenos Aires, but the handgun misfired, the country’s president said.

President Alberto Fernández said, for reasons not yet known, that the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it, despite having five bullets loaded.

Video of the incident showed a man pointing the gun at her head from the middle of the crowd, but while a click was heard, no shots were fired and no one was harmed.

The alleged gunman was identified as a Brazilian citizen, said an official at the Security Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hundreds of protesters had gathered in recent days to support the former president, who is in the midst of a corruption trial