The assailant’s gun jammed when he attacked.

On Thursday night, Argentina Vice President Cristina Fernández was confronted by an assailant outside of her home in Buenos Aires. Fernández was greeting supporters outside of her home when a man moved close to her with a pistol. The pistol was aimed at her head and the trigger was audibly pulled, but no shot was fired, implying that the assailant’s gun jammed. After this, the assailant was swiftly wrestled to the ground and detained by onlookers and authorities.

The assailant has been identified as Brazilian national Fernando Sabag Montiel, though authorities have not managed to discern his motive as of writing. Though Fernández was not injured in the attack, the attempt has sparked intense discourse throughout the country’s government. In an official statement to the public, Argentine President Alberto Fernández condemned the attack as “the most serious incident since we recovered democracy.”

“A man pointed a firearm at her head and pulled the trigger,” he said in a national broadcast.

“We can disagree, we can have deep disagreements, but in a democratic society, hate speech cannot take place because it breeds violence and there is no possibility of violence co-existing with democracy,” he said. “Our vice president has been attacked and social peace has been disturbed.”

“When hate and violence prevail over the debate of ideas, they destroy societies and generate situations like today’s: an assassination attempt,” Economy Minister Sergio Massa added on Twitter.