Sports

Olympian’s mother killed by stray bullet

The mom of a Puerto Rican Olympian was killed by a stray bullet whereas stitching in her Connecticut dwelling over the weekend, in response to the athlete and police.

Police consider Mabel Martinez, 56, was an harmless bystander and the meant goal was apparently a person strolling outdoors her dwelling within the city of Waterbury. He was wounded within the leg and survived. No arrests have been introduced.

Mabel Martinez was the mom of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rico Olympic crew who competed in the summertime Olympics final 12 months and in 2016.

Mabel Martinez died Sunday after being shot within the head Saturday afternoon, police stated.

Mercado Martinez, 27, expressed her anguish in social media postings.

“Why you? Why this manner? You had been simply sitting in your little home stitching, as you all the time did,” she wrote in Spanish.

“Two days in the past you known as me with pleasure, asking me to save lots of the date and make it easier to put together to resume your wedding ceremony vows with daddy in Puerto Rico,” she stated Sunday. “There are such a lot of issues I nonetheless wanted to be taught from you … I used to be so far-off with out with the ability to do something, I could not even say goodbye to you.”

She wrote that the household intends to convey her mom’s physique to Puerto Rico “so her family and friends can say goodbye.”

“I apologize to Puerto Rico as a result of even when I wished to, I actually cannot compete, my place is with my household,” she wrote.

A message searching for remark was left Monday for Mercado Martinez.

The athlete flew out of Brazil late Sunday and has arrived in Connecticut, in response to Gilberto Hernandez, president of the Puerto Rico Taking pictures Affiliation, the game’s governing physique within the U.S. territory.

Hernandez stated it isn’t clear when the physique would arrive for burial in Puerto Rico, including that the capturing affiliation helps pay a portion of the funeral prices.

“We belief that she’s going to overcome this,” he informed The Related Press. “She will be able to depend on us. … The doorways of the affiliation are all the time open.”

Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo stated investigators consider the capturing was drug-related and had nothing to do with Mabel Martinez.

“This was positively a random, tragic act of violence,” he informed the AP. “She was in her home. She’s not the meant goal.”

Spagnolo stated family had been extraordinarily distraught, together with Mabel Martinez’s husband, whom he described as inconsolable.

He stated the investigation has been “very, very lively” since Saturday.

——

AP journalist Danica Coto contributed to this report from San Juan, Puerto Rico.



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