CARTAGENA, BOLÍVAR, COLOMBIA – JUNE 16, 2026 Tragic incident occurred around 11:00 p.m. in the Rafael Núñez sector of the Olaya Herrera neighborhood. The victim was 58-year-old Norberto Pérez Salas, a former member of the Colombian police who retired in 2016 after approximately 25 years of service. He had six children and, after leaving the police force, worked, among other things, as a bodyguard.
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- Norberto Pérez Salas 1
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- Norberto Pérez Salas 2
According to available information, Norberto Pérez Salas arrived in the area with another man after allegedly trying to find people who had robbed someone close to him. On Perimetral Road, they got into a confrontation with several people, and gunshots were reportedly heard during the incident. Police subsequently arrived at the scene and detained both men.
However, the situation quickly spiraled out of control. A crowd attempted to take the detained men away from the police and, according to the police version, pulled one of them out of a motorized police patrol vehicle. That man was Norberto Pérez Salas. The crowd then attacked him with stones and other objects, causing injuries that killed him at the scene.
The case was initially described on social media as the lynching of an alleged hitman. However, police stated that initial information ruled out Norberto Pérez Salas being a sicario or having any proven connection to the earlier shooting. According to investigators, it was a tragic case of mistaken identity amid a chaotic situation.
Three men were later prosecuted in connection with his death. They were suspected of taking part in the lynching, and a judge ordered them held in pretrial detention, where they are currently awaiting trial.
