A would-be mugger in Rio armed with a gun met a fatal end when he attempted to carjack a Russian diplomat near the Olympic Park, the UK’s Metro reported Friday morning.
Brazilian attorney Marcos Cesar Feres Braga, who is a vice-consul at the Russian consulate, reportedly grabbed the motorbike-riding perpetrator and yanked him into his BMW after the attacker threatened him with a gun and smashed the car window.
During the ensuing struggle, Braga grabbed the gun from the perpetrator and fatally shot him. Braga was reportedly traveling with his family at the time of the attack. According to local media outlet Globo, Braga is trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
The Russian General Consul disputes reports that one of their diplomats was allegedly involved in the incident.
“Brazilian media reports that a Russian diplomat was allegedly involved in an incident that led to the death of a Brazilian national during an armed attack is not true,” Vladimir Tokmakov, the Russian General Consul in Rio, told TASS.
Nevertheless, an official for Rio’s Homicide Police Station told Metro that Braga “is a lawyer and also the vice-consul of Russia. He is Brazilian and a native of Rio de Janeiro.”