Mugger shot dead after ‘diplomat’ turns tables with jujitsu

A MAN claiming to be a Russian diplomat shot dead a mugger who tried to rob him through a car window near the Olympic athletes’ village, rattling competitors just a day out from the opening ceremony.

Police initially reported the vice consul of the Russian consulate in Rio drew on his jujitsu skills to wrestle the mugger’s gun from his hands and shoot the would-be rob- ber dead at close range. But Russian news agency Tass later said the man was not from the Russian consulate.

The Olympic torch relay had passed through the Avenida das Americas just before the mugger targeted the supposed diplomat’s car from the back of a motorbike – a common crime strategy in Rio.

Authorities have flooded the streets with armed guards and extra police in a bid to keep crime in check while the world’s eyes are on Rio, but theft has continued to flour- ish. A spokesman from the Rio Olympics Organising Committee initially tried to downplay the shooting last night, saying he wasn’t clear on what it had to do with the Games.

He later said the committee was consulting authorities for a full picture of what happened and that Rio had 88,000 security personnel deployed.

The supposed diplomat was identified by local media as Marcos Cesar Feres Braga, a lawyer reportedly familiar with jujitsu who managed to take the mugger’s gun when the man struck and broke the window of his BMW and tried to rob him.

But Consul General of the Russian Federation in Rio, Vladimir Tokmakov, told Tass local diplomats had “nothing to do with the incident”.

But he added he could not “rule out” the man had introduced himself as a diplomat.

Local media said Mr Braga was waiting in traffic when he shot the mugger – named as Leonardo Lopes Batista – dead at close range.