BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- A gunman fatally shot a prominent
                  Argentine journalist outside his home on Thursday, police and news reports
                  said.

                  Ricardo Gangeme, 56, was parking his car in Trelew, a Patagonian city 750
                  miles south of Buenos Aires, when he was shot once in the head, the reports
                  said.

                  A police officer on patrol found Gangeme slumped over the wheel of his car,
                  and he died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Police said robbery
                  did not appear to be a motive since no money was taken from Gangeme's
                  wallet.

                  Gangeme had worked in the past at Radio Argentina and was the former
                  editor of the Buenos Aires daily Cronica. He was currently serving as editor
                  of the Patagonian weekly El Informador Chubutense.

                  A provincial government official, Jose Luis Lisurume, said the killing could
                  have been an attempt to "silence a voice of the press," but authorities were
                  trying to determine the motive.

                  Trelew media reported that Gangeme had been threatened before the killing,
                  threats he had reported to police. Lisurume told the local news agency
                  Noticias Argentinas that Gangeme had been offered a bodyguard but had
                  refused.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.