"Come on, cat, put it in": the dramatic sequence in which a gas worker was shot four times while confronting motorcycle thieves in Mar del Plata

Martín, a 44-year-old gas fitter, arrived Friday morning in his car at a residence in Punta Mogotes, a low-rise neighborhood in Mar del Plata, when two motorcycle thieves threatened him with weapons to steal the vehicle he uses for work. The worker struggled to resist the assault by shouting and fighting back until he managed to scare off the robbers, who had shot him four times.

The motorcycle thieves' attack occurred shortly after 10:30 a.m. on García Lorca Street at 600, where the gas fitter was traveling in a Peugeot 208.

The entire sequence of the attack — the gunshots, the defense, and the gas fitter's quick reaction as he managed to get back into the car and drive to a first aid clinic — was recorded by security cameras from homes in the area, which became the key element of the judicial investigation attempting to locate the assailants.

The videos show how one of the attackers gets off the motorcycle armed and threatens the man who was parking his car on Lorca at 600 with his revolver in order to rob him. Immediately, a shouting match ensues in which the robbers attempt to intimidate the defenseless gas fitter.

At that point, the assailant fires a first shot into the air to frighten him, but in a moment of rage the gas fitter lunges at the armed man and begins beating him until he knocks him to the ground.

From the ground, the assailant began pulling the trigger and shot the gas fitter three times before running back to the black 150cc motorcycle where his accomplice was waiting.

Already wounded in his extremities, the gas fitter gets up off the ground and, as he turns around to drive off the robbers, one of them urges the other to shoot him again. According to the surveillance footage, he says: "Go on, shoot him, put him down."

Immediately after, they shoot the gas fitter again. With four bullets in his body, the robbery victim managed to get into his car and sped off toward the Punta Mogotes Emergency Care Unit (UPA).

There, following a medical alert, he was transferred to the General Acute Care Interzonal Hospital (Higa), where he underwent emergency surgery to remove the projectiles.

The gas fitter remained hospitalized after the surgical procedure and, according to police sources, was recovering in stable condition.

The man suffered wounds to his abdomen and legs, investigation sources told the Mar del Plata press.

Although the motorcycle thieves managed to escape, police and prosecutors are on their trail. Prosecutor Constanza Mandagarán took charge of the investigation and ordered forensic work in the neighborhood and continued tracking of the motorcycle using area surveillance cameras to locate them as soon as possible.