Man in Joker costume arrested for killing one young man and injuring two in Bolivian nightclub

A tragic incident shook the city of La Paz, Bolivia last Sunday, when Manuel A.Z., a 25-year-old man, dressed up as the Joker and stabbed three young men outside the Forum nightclub in the Sopocachi neighborhood.

One of the victims, a 21-year-old security guard, lost his life at midday due to the severity of his injuries. Another of the wounded, brother of the deceased, remains in intensive care after undergoing surgery.

The attack occurred around 05:00, according to security camera records. Manuel A.Z., who had worked as a children's entertainer at a Children's Day event dressed as the comic book character and had consumed alcoholic beverages at the nightclub before the incident.

According to the departmental prosecutor of La Paz, Luis Carlos Torrez, the aggressor had blood stains on his costume at the time he was identified.

On Monday, the Special Forces to Combat Crime (Felcc) apprehended Manuel A.Z. and his partner in a property on Mexico Street, in downtown La Paz. He now faces charges of homicide, while she is being investigated for complicity homicide.

The Prosecutor's Office will request the preventive detention of the main person accused for six months in the maximum security prison of Chonchocoro, in El Alto.

The father of the victims, visibly affected, said that his deceased son was working as a security guard when the attack occurred. His other son, 19 years old, was injured while trying to defend his brother, receiving three stab wounds. "I can't believe why it was him and my other son, they are so loved in the circle at church, school, and work," he expressed.

Although the case is initially being investigated as homicide, the victims' defense will request that it be reclassified as murder, which could imply a 30-year sentence without the right to pardon.