REUTER

May 9, 1997

Argentine police accidentally shoot man live on TV

BUENOS AIRES - An Argentine television cameraman was shot and seriously wounded in the chest while covering a news conference broadcast live outside a police station Friday, apparently after a police pistol went off accidentally.

Cameraman Guillermo Galvan staggered and clutched his chest while journalists and a police spokesman ducked in panic after a bullet smashed through a police station window in a northern suburb of Buenos Aires.

Shocked colleagues from other channels filmed as Galvan slumped against a wall, his face pale and his eyes glazing over as blood stained his white pullover near his heart.

Galvan was carried onto a pickup truck and rushed to a hospital. Television Channel 9, for which he was covering the event, described his condition as ``grave'' but doctors said they hoped he would live.

The police spokesman went into the station after the accident and returned to say that an officer had put his service revolver on a table and it had fired accidentally.

``There was obvious negligence on the officer's part, which will be evaluated,'' the spokesman told reporters.

A woman television reporter and other bystanders were also slightly hurt by broken glass at the news conference, which was called to discuss a police manhunt for a rapist.

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