Brazil: Shots fired in town housing Team Honduras

By: 10 years ago

Brazilian fans, one wearing a hat of the World Cup mascot Fuleco, watch a friendly soccer match between Brazil and Panama at a kiosk along Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, June 3, 2014. AP

RIO DE JANEIRO — Gunfire rang out in the town where the Honduran national soccer team is headquartered and where the players had just arrived after their World Cup opening match loss, Brazilian authorities said Tuesday.

An official with the Sao Paulo state security secretariat, the government agency that oversees all security forces in the state, confirmed by phone that several shots were fired in the town of Porto Feliz, where the Honduran team is headquartered for the monthlong tournament.

“A couple guys in a car fired into the air, apparently just for fun. Police then pursued them and fired four shots at the car, but the suspects weren’t apprehended,” the official said on condition of anonymity, saying she was not yet supposed to speak to the press on the matter.

In an emailed statement, the secretariat said that the shooting “didn’t occur in the vicinity of the training center or hotel being used by Team Honduras.” No other details were in the email.

However, Saul Bueso Mazariegos, head of the Honduran team’s security, was quoted in the Honduran newspaper Diez as saying team members heard the shots and that “of course we were alarmed.”

Honduras’ training camp is located in Porto Feliz, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of metropolitan Sao Paulo.

Earlier, a police official in Porto Feliz said he knew of no shots being fired.