Juan Roa Sierra

Juan Roa Sierra was an Colombian assassin who assassinated presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948. The assassination of Gaitan resulted in El Bogotazo, riots that partially destroyed Bogota. These riots in turn led to the ten-year civil war in Colombia, La Violencia, which would last until approximately 1958.

Roa Sierra later got his comeuppance when he fled into a drugstore to hide himself. An angry mob discovered his whereabouts and killed him.