Venezuela captures soldier charged with killing 2, wounding 6 at country’s biggest army base

Venezuela captures soldier sought in base killing

CARACAS, Venezuela — Authorities have captured a fugitive soldier who allegedly opened fire on Venezuela’s biggest army base last month, killing two officers and wounding six other soldiers, the state news agency said Wednesday.

Jeffersson Trujillo Vasquez was arrested late Tuesday in a slum in the city of Araure in the western state of Portuguesa, the VNA news agency said, citing the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service.

The soldier had been on the run since Aug. 21, when he is alleged to have argued with a superior, then killed the captain with an AK-103 assault rifle at Fort Tiuna in Caracas.

Prosecutors say Trujillo killed a lieutenant several minutes later at an arms depot. An ensuing gunbattle left six soldiers wounded — three women and three men ranging in rank from sergeant to first lieutenant — before Trujillo escaped, authorities say.