Peruvian journalist and regional candidate Susy Aponte Polo was shot dead on Saturday while campaigning in Caraz, Áncash.

Susy Ysabel Aponte Polo de Tello, known as "La China Polo," was killed on September 19, 2026, during a campaign stop near a market on Avenida Ramón Castilla in Caraz, in Peru's Áncash region. She was 43. Local reports say she was shot in the head while walking with supporters about 12:40 p.m. Several other people were wounded, including minors, and were taken to Hospital San Juan de Dios in Caraz.

Shocking video of the assassination, which is not for the faint of heart, may be seen at: https://x.com/SMObserved/status/2101889218842898493?s=20

Aponte was a digital journalist who hosted China Polo Dominical and a candidate for regional governor of Áncash for the movement Socios por Áncash. Regional and municipal elections are scheduled for October 4. In her work she published allegations about corruption, illegal mining, public works, and organized crime in the region.

Days before the attack she posted a video saying she had been threatened and harassed. She said she had received calls from three prisons warning of an attack and publicly named National Police Gen. Víctor Revoredo Farfán, then head of the criminal investigation directorate, as having ordered it. She said she had already filed complaints. Authorities have not publicly confirmed a link between those claims and the killing; her accusations remain part of what investigators must check.

Police detained Venezuelan national Luis Iván Obispo Díaz near the scene and seized a 9mm Glock that had been reported stolen from a Lima police officer's home in November 2023. Prosecutor General Tomás Gálvez later said investigators also detained people accused of financing the attack and of transporting the alleged shooter. One of those identified is Ronald José Toro Artila, 29, arrested in Lima's Surco district. Official counts of detainees have varied slightly between two and three as the case developed.

Prosecutors first opened a feminicide file, then reclassified the case as alleged sicariato-contract killing. The Huaylas provincial prosecutor's office is seeking hotel camera footage, a legal autopsy, and other forensic work. Investigators have not publicly named an intellectual author or established a motive. Peruvian press groups and her political allies have called for an independent inquiry.