Lima: Peru's former president Alan Garcia died in hospital on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head at his home as police were about to arrest him in a sprawling corruption case, a party official said. He was 69.
“Alan Garcia has died, long live Apra,” said Omar Quesada, the general secretary of Garcia's American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Apra) party.
Garcia was resuscitated three times after suffering cardiac arrest while undergoing emergency surgery, before finally succumbing, Peru's Health Minister Zulema Tomas had said.
The Casimiro Ulloa Emergency Hospital in Lima earlier confirmed he had suffered “a bullet wound to his head.” “This morning there was a regrettable accident: the president took the decision to shoot himself,” Erasmo Reyna, Garcia's lawyer, told reporters outside the hospital after Garcia was admitted.
The attempted arrest took place at 6:30 am (1130 GMT) at Garcia's home in Lima's upmarket Miraflores neighborhood.
Police were acting on an arrest warrant for money laundering that would have allowed Garcia to be held for 10 days, giving authorities time to gather evidence and prevent him from fleeing, the prosecutor's office said.
Peru's President Martin Vizcarra expressed his sympathy on his Twitter account.
“Dismayed by the death of ex-president Alan Garcia. I send my condolences to his family and loved ones,” Vizcarra wrote in a tweet.
