A broken window on an official media bus after it shattered when driving accredited journalists to the Main Transport Mall from the Deodoro venue of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, August 9, 2016. There were no injures.
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However, the Washington Post reported that journalists on board the bus heard two shots, and this resulted in injuries to three of the passengers. Two windows were shattered, with tiny chards of glass remaining in place.
Among the passengers was La Nacion’s Gaston Saiz, who said in a report of his Argentine daily: “We heard two strong impacts on the right side and two windows were broken completely”.
The bus was travelling between the Deodoro zone and the main transport mall in the Olympic Park at around 19.30 local time (23.30BST) when the incident occurred with about a dozen media on board. According to a report that emerged via Twitter, The Globe journalists think that the bus windows were shattered by stones and not by gunfire.
Rio is notorious for gun crime and gang violence.
Davies said the bus eventually picked up a police escort.
“The bus driver stopped the bus about half a minute afterwards”.
Police said the man had robbed several people in the area, but did not give further details.
Lee Michaelson, a USA reporter on women’s basketball who is also a retired Air Force captain, said: “I know what a gun sounds like”.
Rio Olympics organizers stepped up police patrols on Wednesday as security concerns mounted over the threat posed by street violence, with a Games bus being hit by stones and a security patrol coming under fire near Rio’s worldwide airport.
Adding to concerns over Games security, organizers said they were investigating reports of a second bullet discovered at the equestrian centre.
When he checked his rear view mirror, he found the journalists were lying on the ground. He saw a police vehicle and stopped.
According to the organizers, the driver then noticed that two windows were broken, and resumed the route under the escort of the police vehicle.
A statement from the Games organising committee said military patrols would be “increased” in response. Police have said a stray bullet that hit the equestrian center on Saturday was sacked by a high-velocity rifle from a nearby slum.
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Mario Andrada, the communications director for Rio 2016, confirmed Sunday that the stray bullet came from a nearby community. But government officials said that the games were not the target and the bullet could have been aimed at a drone or balloon flying over the district with a security camera.
