The assailant approached Fernández de Kirchner as she met with supporters outside of her official residence in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, and attempted to shoot her in the head with a semi-automatic pistol.

[15][16][17] In response, opponents of Fernández de Kirchner staged several demonstrations in front of her residence calling for her resignation, followed by her supporters showing up as a counter-protest.

[19] Several violent incidents between supporters and opposition occurred, including clashes with the Buenos Aires City Police and the detention of a man wielding a wrench as a weapon.

[23] As she was signing copies of her book, Sinceramente, for her supporters, Fernando André Sabag Montiel allegedly approached and pulled the trigger of a semi-automatic pistol mere inches from her face, but the gun failed to fire.

[29] The suspect was identified as Fernando André Sabag Montiel (born 13 January 1987), a 35-year-old Brazilian man from La Paternal, Buenos Aires, who has resided in Argentina since 1993.

[24] On 17 March 2021, Sabag Montiel was found in possession of a 35-centimetre long knife during a traffic stop; he was arrested and charged with carrying "non-conventional weapons".

[33] In the weeks before the attack, he was interviewed on the street by Crónica TV criticizing the government's welfare programs, claiming they made people "lazy".

[27] During the interview and in social media posts, Sabag Montiel made statements condemning both Fernández de Kirchner and her political opponent, Javier Milei.

[34] Sabag Montiel has tattoos depicting Nazi imagery, including a Black Sun on his left elbow and an Iron Cross on his right hand.

[37] His girlfriend, Brenda Uliarte, was detained on orders of the judge after an analysis of Sabag Montiel's movements, coupled with statements from a friend, concluded that he was allegedly with her on the night of the attempted assassination.

[38] President Alberto Fernández announced that the investigation would be led by federal judge María Eugenia Capuchetti, and the case prosecuted by Carlos Rívolo.

[48] The Republican Proposal (PRO) party, usually opponents of Fernández de Kirchner, voted for the resolution but left the chamber soon after.

[53] Some Kirchnerist politicians, like Victoria Donda, blamed the attack on perceived hate speech from the media, the opposition, and the judiciary.

It is essential to make sense of what we mean by hate speech on the basis of international human rights standards in order to define in which exceptional cases it represents a reasonable limit to freedom of expression.”[55] Casa Rosada spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti pointed out that the government is not working on any draft bill over the topic.