Point-Blank

Colombian university students, singing the national anthem, marched 4,000 strong into downtown Bogota last week to protest the killing of a fellow student in a scuffle with police the day before. At a street corner they were halted by a cordon of rifle-bearing soldiers. For a few minutes, an amiable standoff prevailed. Then, from a balcony overhead, came the report of a pistol. A soldier fell dead.

"Fire!" shouted the troop commander, and the riflemen shot point-blank into the massed, unarmed students. By the time the volley ended, nine students and two bystanders had been killed; dozens were wounded (see NEWS IN PICTURES). The paraders fled. Still a mystery at week's end was the answer to the question: Who fired the fatal first shot?

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