Global Courant
Leonardo Sebastián Paz (22) was fulfilling his dream: driving a bus. But the illusion vanished the first day of work. Two thieves boarded intern 1030 of line 56 and shot it twice when a federal police officer confronted them.
The crime occurred at 4:30 in the morning of March 14, 2014 in Villa Celina, La Matanza district. One of the suspects, Kevin Gustavo Antonacci (29), was arrested the same day.
To the other, Brian Gabriel Cabrera (29), accused of being the one who pulled the trigger, just 9 years, 2 months and 2 days later. “Caraza”, as they called him because he had grown up in that Lanús neighborhood, lived with a false identity and was in a relationship, but the woman had been deceived.
Leonardo Sebastián Paz (22), the bus driver murdered in La Matanza on March 14, 2014.
A national and international arrest warrant has been pending on Cabrera since 2014. Federal Police detectives discovered that the fugitive had renewed his DNI on April 6, 2022.
The traces he left in this process were key to catching him, since he provided an address in a country house on Manuela Gómez street at 1100, in General Rodríguez.
In addition, it was found that he had been working since September 2022 in a logistics company.
With these data, the PFA Homicide Division advanced on the suspect, who was fulfilling tasks in a glass bottle recycling plant on provincial route 28 and Puerto Belgrano, where he entered at 5 in the morning. But the last name he had given was not the real one, but Silva.
In this way, two brigades set up surveillance and waited for him at the entrance to his work. When he arrived on his bike, he made a U-turn and tried to escape, but fell into a ditch and sustained cuts to his face. Before they took him prisoner, he tried to bribe the agents so that they would release him.
Upon verifying that he was the fugitive, the Buenos Aires Police also intervened and transferred him to the Vicente López y Planes Hospital, in General Rodríguez, where they treated his face and gave him some stitches.
The bus on line 56 where Leonardo Paz was assassinated. Clarin Archive
Cabrera is accused of a crime whose penalty is expected to be life imprisonment: “aggravated robbery due to the use of a firearm in an attempted degree, doubly aggravated homicide criminis causa and for being a member of the police force in an attempted degree, aggravated homicide criminis causa”.
Prosecutor Matías Folino investigated him, but the detainee refused to testify. Cabrera was imprisoned at the 2nd police station. de Ramos Mejía, at the disposal of Guarantee Court 5 of the Judicial Department of La Matanza, in charge of Gustavo Banco, until his transfer to a prison is ordered.
One of his sisters is a City Police officer, who said she did not know where the young man was living.
In addition, the detainee’s partner was contacted, who claimed to know him as “Brian Silva” for four years.
Brian Gabriel Cabrera (29), alias “Caraza”, was a fugitive for nine years and two months after killing the bus driver Leonardo Paz (22) in La Matanza.
The crime of Leonardo Paz
The murder of the bus driver occurred at the bus stop located on 100 Strangford Street, in Villa Celina, where Cabrera and Antonacci got on to rob, armed with a 9-millimeter pistol.
One of the around ten passengers was a PFA corporal, then 32 years old, who reacted by shouting “Stop, police!”
According to the investigation, Cabrera shot him once without hitting him and then fired two more shots at the bus driver, who was fatally shot in the shoulder and right ankle. The petty officer did not use his weapon to save the rest of the passage.
One of the bullet wounds in the bus. Clarin Archive.
At the time of the homicide, Paz was on her first day of work, practicing with her instructor.
The bus driver lived in Gregorio de Laferrere with his parents, his sister Melina, his brother-in-law and a 2-year-old niece.
“In the family we were a little afraid that he would drive at dawn. In fact, he in the company (DOTA) had two possibilities: drive on line 91 or on line 56. But since 91 passes through Villegas, a place quite dangerous, we advised him to choose number 56, thinking that it would be quieter, but it was not, unfortunately it was not,” Melina lamented after the crime.
Leonardo knew a lot about masonry because, while he was studying, he helped his dad on his days off. But his goal was always to get on to drive a line bus.
Leonardo Paz with a niece, in a photo on his Facebook.
On his Facebook account, Leonardo uploaded photos of buses he saw on the street, as if they were luxury cars.
Paz was on trial and the tours were carried out with another driver, who guided him. But since the DOTA company was very satisfied with his work and responsibility, that March 14, 2014 he was going to make his first solo trip, as he always dreamed of. They didn’t let him.
After his murder, there was a transport stoppage and a union claim that ended with a resolution that established that they had to start installing security cameras in all the buses, an announcement that became repeated before each similar event and is still in debt.
EMJ
