The crime and the victims
Mahatma Edvynd Soihit Meza, 44, his partner Evelyn Carolina Rivero Mejías, 41, and their three children Dan, 14, Alan, 12, and Nicole, 10, were found dead in a small rented room on Calle Mercedes in Mariano Acosta, partido de Merlo, in the western outskirts of Buenos Aires. All five were Venezuelan and had lived there only a short time. The woman and the children each had two gunshot wounds to the head, while the man had a single wound to the left temple. A 9mm pistol was found between his legs.[S1][S2][S3]
Investigators believe the killer took his family by surprise early on Thursday morning while they were resting. The room was tiny, with several mattresses almost on top of one another, and the woman's laptop was still on the bed; she worked remotely as a systems analyst. The bodies were discovered on Friday after her coworkers, worried by her absence and unanswered calls, alerted the 911 emergency line. Police entered the home with a witness and found the five bodies.[S1][S2]
The gunman and his weapons
Soihit Meza had worked in Argentina as a private security guard and practiced target shooting. On Facebook he presented himself as a firearms expert and shared photos and videos of pistols, targets and shooting accessories. In early October he posted images of a Sarsilmaz SAR 9 pistol, the same model found at the scene, and two days later a training video. When a contact praised his marksmanship, he replied that practice and readiness were essential. Investigators are still verifying whether his pistol was properly registered, though everything suggests he held a Legitimate User Credential (CLU), required to practice at a shooting range with a personal weapon. He also attended firearms fairs and expos and wanted to start a business selling guns legally.[S1][S2][S3]
The couple was reportedly in crisis, and the woman had recently told her husband she intended to separate. The family had little contact with neighbors because they were new to the area, and few close relatives nearby; the woman's brother was not in the region. According to medical examiners, the woman and children each had two bullet wounds with entry and exit holes, while the man had one to the left temple. The investigation is led by prosecutor Adriana Suárez Corripio of UFI 8 in Morón, with a second prosecutor, Nicolás Filippini, also assigned to the case, according to one report. Officers from the 6th police station of Mariano Acosta and forensic experts worked at the scene.[S1][S2]
A shaken neighborhood and a decade-long migration
Neighbors described a quiet, low-income neighborhood of dirt streets. One said the news hit like a bucket of cold water. Another recalled seeing the woman last on Monday, often riding her bicycle, and described her as very attentive. Alfredo, whose mother lives next door, said he was heartbroken, though the families only knew each other by sight when walking their dogs. Some residents reported hearing gunshots early Thursday, but no one approached the house until Friday, when the bodies were found and police were called.[S1][S2]
Soihit Meza had arrived in Argentina alone more than a decade earlier and faced initial economic hardship. In a 2017 Facebook group for Venezuelans in Buenos Aires, he recounted staying in a shared room in a hostel in San Telmo and working first in Chinese-owned shops, living frugally while seeking better work. He later wrote that his whole family—his wife and three children—had joined him. Over the years he held jobs in insurance and in vehicle sales and repair, and was registered with the tax authority ARCA as a computer consultant and software supplier. He had no reported bank debts. The family first settled in Marcos Paz and later moved to Mariano Acosta.[S2][S3]
