abalear

Common in Latin American Spanish (Mexico, Colombia, Central America) for "to shoot" someone with a firearm — frequent in crime reporting and everyday speech in the region, though largely absent from European Spanish, which favors disparar or tirotear.

• Lo abalearon a la salida del bar. — He was shot outside the bar.
• La policía investiga quién abaleó al comerciante. — Police are investigating who shot the shopkeeper.
• Hubo un tiroteo y dos personas resultaron abaleadas. — There was a shootout and two people were shot.

European learners often reach for disparar a alguien instead — not wrong, but abalear is the more natural regional choice in much of Latin American news and speech.

Often confused with disparar.