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Gunfire hits Olympic bus carrying journalists

Two windows were smashed as the bus travelled between the Deodoro zone and the main transport mall in Rio’s Olympic Park at around 1930 local time (2330BST), with about a dozen media on board.

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Three journalists were left with minor cuts, according to Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrade.

Gunshots were fired at a Rio Olympics media bus on Tuesday, August 9.

Britain’s Press Association on Wednesday quoted Lee Michaelson, who was on the bus Tuesday, as saying that she instinctively hit the floor when she heard the sound of gunfire and “hollered to the others”.

Michaelson, a former airforce captain and lawyer with experience of firearms cases, said it was unlikely that stones could have hit two windows of the fast-moving bus at about the same height.

“Roughly halfway back, I was texting my daughter about our dinner plans for the evening, when I suddenly heard two shots ring out in close succession”.

Speaking to the Press Association, Ms Michaelson said: “I know what a gun sounds like”. It was the sound before I ever saw the glass or anything.

The 63-year-old said a cameraman next to her who had experience reporting from the war in Iraq also thought it was gunfire. Everyone was on the floor so I got on the floor as well. Photos showed two shattered windows, with tiny chards of glass remaining in place.

When they returned to the Olympic park, she says there was no medical help waiting, despite some passengers being injured and bleeding.

When he checked his rear view mirror, he found the journalists were lying on the ground. “He resumed the route under the escort of the police vehicle and the broken windows began to give way further”. He saw a police auto and stopped.

On Saturday, a bullet hit the equestrian centre, missing journalists there by just a few feet. “They were aiming at the police blimp, which carried cameras”, he said.

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“According to the security forces, the bullet came from a community far from here”, Andrada said.

Aug. 9 2016 This image shows shattered windows on a Olympic media bus that was shot at on a highway in Rio de Janeiro Brazil