Apparent assassination attempt against VP roils Argentina

As Argentina's powerful Vice President Cristina Fernandez stepped from her car outside her apartment building and began shaking hands with a throng of well-wishers, a man pushed forward with a gun, pointed it just inches from her face and pulled the trigger with a distinct click. The loaded weapon evidently jammed.

Fernandez's security detail seized the gunman and took him away, and the 69-year-old former president of Argentina was unhurt. But the apparent assassination attempt against the deeply divisive figure Thursday night shook Argentina _ a country with a history of political violence _ and worsened tensions in the sharply divided nation.
The gunman was identified as Fernando Andre Sabag Montiel, a 35-year-old street vendor and Brazilian citizen who has lived in Argentina since 1998 and had no criminal record, authorities said. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Sabag Montiel wielded a .38-caliber semiautomatic handgun that was "capable of firing" and was "operating normally," according to a judicial official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Authorities shed no light on a possible motive and were investigating whether he acted alone or was part of a larger plot.
The country's political leaders quickly condemned the attempted shooting as an assault on democracy and the rule of law, with President Alberto Fernandez holding a late-night national broadcast to tell Argentines just how close the vice president came to being killed.
The president, who is not related to his vice president, said the gun was loaded with five bullets but "didn't fire even though the trigger was pulled."

The president declared a national holiday Friday in the wake of what he...