Reports are emerging that Russia's vice-consul has shot and killed an assailant in the Rio de Janeiro suburb of Barra da Tijuca -- the same suburb which is home to Rio's main Olympic Park complex.
The attack reportedly occurred on the Avenue das Americas on Thursday morning Rio time, a large thoroughfare directly across a shallow lagoon from Olympic Park, and extremely close to where the Australian Olympic Committee plans to stage several open-air athlete press events on Friday, Rio time.
Rio newspaper O Globo (The Globe) reports that the vice-consul was reacting to a robbery. The 60-year-old man, whose identity was not disclosed, was driving with his wife and daughter when his car was caught in a traffic jam. Two suspects approached him on motorbikes and one broke the window of his car with a gun.
The vice-consul, who is an expert in the martial art jiujitsu, took the gun from the burglar and shot him dead. The other man ran away.
Russia has two consuls (and vice-consuls) in Brazil -- in Sao Paulo and in Rio.
The 60-year-old has been named in some media reports as Marcos Cesar Feres Braga,
But Russian news agency Tass has denied that staff from the Russian consulate were involved in any incident.
"Information circulating in the Brazilian press... about the alleged shooting of a Brazilian national by a Russian diplomat during an armed robbery does not reflect reality," said Vladimir Tokmakov, Russian consul general in Rio.
"No member of staff had "anything to do with the incident,"