Rodrigo Gómez, a 21-year-old soldier from Misiones province, was found dead with a gunshot to the head at the Olivos Presidential Residence, where President Javier Milei resides and security duties are performed. A letter found near the body points to severe economic problems, and authorities are investigating under the suicide hypothesis.
Early Tuesday morning, Rodrigo Gómez, a 21-year-old soldier from the Escuadrón Chacabuco of the Regimiento de Granaderos a Caballo “General San Martín”, was found lifeless in one of the internal posts at the Quinta de Olivos. Originally from Misiones province, Gómez was on surveillance duty at the presidential residence when a colleague noticed he had stopped reporting during his shift and discovered him with a gunshot wound to the head. Medical personnel confirmed his death immediately, triggering security protocols.
The leading hypothesis is suicide, bolstered by a letter found near the body addressed to family and friends. In the note, Gómez described severe economic troubles, including debts of around two million pesos to banking entities. The shot was fired with a FAL rifle, his unit's standard-issue weapon, and initial forensics suggest it was self-inflicted.
Federal Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, overseeing the case, personally supervised the on-site examinations and ordered an autopsy to establish the exact cause of death. The probe, under strict confidentiality, involves the División Unidad Operativa Federal (DUOF) of San Isidro and the Argentine Federal Police, including ballistic analysis, reconstruction of his final hours, and interviews with on-duty personnel. Gómez had been at his post since Monday night, when Milei returned to the Quinta after his schedule at the Casa Rosada.
The Presidential Spokesperson's Office issued a statement offering condolences to Gómez's family and noting that the incident did not disrupt the president's agenda. “The main line of investigation points to him having taken his own life. The President of the Nation and the entire National Government stand with the family in this time of grief,” the official text states. The autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday.
