Sports

Olympics: Stray bullet flies into media center

Published

8 years ago

August 8, 2016

Nigeria, 2016 Olympics And Other Stories

A stray bullet cut through the plastic roof of the equestrian media center on Saturday, alarming journalists and underlining concerns about the host city’s ability to guarantee security at the world’s biggest sporting event.

Though the center is near a military complex, no one is sure where the bullet came from.

No one was injured in the incident.

Police are still trying to discover who fired the bullet and from where, a spokesman for the Rio 2016 organizing committee said.

“It was a stray bullet and has nothing to do with the Games,” Mario Andrada said at a news conference, adding that security around the venue had been increased as a precaution.

Defence Minister Raul Jungmann was in the area accompanying the investigation and would return there, a spokesman said.

Read also: Dalung visits Nigerian athletes in Rio

Dozens of police and troops patrolled the streets en route to the equestrian complex. The area was not evacuated.

Some of the world’s most expensive animals are housed nearby, and the dressage phase of the competition was being held just a few meters away.

The bullet struck around 1 p.m. local (1600 GMT), when the press room was crowded at the end of a lunch break.

A spokesman for New Zealand’s Olympic team said the bullet had fallen close to where the team’s press attache was seated.

“She was sitting down and it went between the door and ceiling above her…,” said Rob Waddell, New Zealand chef de mission and an Olympic rowing gold medalist.

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