Ex-police chief kills himself on live TV

Published on Saturday 22 November 2008 21:20

A FORMER Argentinian police chief killed himself on live television yesterday. Mario Ferreyra, also known as 'El Malevo', shot himself in the head during an interview moments before he was to be arrested.

Ferreyra, who had served as chief of police in the province of Tucuman, was wanted for crimes against humanity. He was accused of kidnap and torture during the dictatorship of 1976-83, known as 'The Dirty War', in which thousands of dissidents disappeared.

Having heard he was to be detained, Ferreyra climbed to the top of a water tank near his home. While being interviewed on top of the tank, he denied he had committed any crimes. After telling his wife that he loved her, he retrieved a gun from his boot and shot himself. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Ferreyra had been convicted in 1993 for the murder of three men but escaped custody. He turned himself in after Antonio Bussi, the former governor of Tucuman, reduced his sentence. Families of his alleged victims claim his suicide is part of a pact of silence, ensuring that he would not have to testify against former colleagues.

Meanwhile, the sister of a teenager who committed suicide live on the internet said "it boggles the mind" that viewers and operators of the website had up to 12 hours to save him.

Abraham Biggs, 19, from Pembroke Pines in Broward County, Florida, took a fatal drug overdose on a live video-streaming website last Wednesday.

He then posted a suicide note on another site and died several hours later, the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed.

Biggs began blogging about plans to kill himself 12 hours before he was found lying dead on his bed.

His sister, Rosalind Biggs, said: "When (police] came in, the webfeed stopped. So that's 12 hours of watching. They got hits, they got viewers – nothing happened for hours."

Although her brother struggled with bipolar disorder, he was a friendly, social, outgoing person who enjoyed spending time with his young nieces, she said.