Bus attack in Caracas leaves student fighting for life
On 25 March 2016, Jesús Piñero, a 22-year-old university student, was returning home on a bus in Caracas when a mugger demanded his phone. Piñero initially handed it over but then snatched it back, prompting the attacker to pistol-whip him and eventually shoot him in the chest. The bullet punctured his left lung, missing his heart by two centimetres, and lodged in his back muscles.
The bus driver and passengers fled, leaving Piñero alone with the attacker. After a struggle, Piñero fell onto the street, and the robber escaped on a waiting motorcycle. Piñero reboarded the bus to collect his belongings, unaware he had been shot until he coughed blood and saw a burn hole in his shirt.
Hospital ordeal and barrio justice
A mototaxi driver rushed Piñero to a hospital, where a family friend, Maite, vouched for him as a good student, ensuring he received treatment. In the emergency room, a young doctor inserted a chest tube without anaesthesia to drain blood from his lung. The bullet was removed a month later.
Five days after the shooting, Piñero was discharged. On his way home, he learned that his attacker had been killed in a funeral procession—barrio justice delivered by local gang leader Wilexis, who had ordered the execution for breaking the taboo on bus robberies.
Life after the shooting
Piñero now teaches at a US school, is completing his PhD, and lives in his own apartment outside Petare. He took his mother to Venice, fulfilling her dream. He still carries the scar and experiences panic attacks at the sight of guns, but he has rebuilt his life. "I've been given a second chance at life," he says. "I have to make the most of it."
Reflecting on the incident, Piñero notes: "The gunshot is how I became an adult. It is my historical mark of the Chávista revolution."
