A bus carrying roughly a dozen media personnel and volunteers in Rio was struck by what many believed was gunfire while traveling between Olympic venues Tuesday night, according to media reports.
The incident reportedly took place on the Trans Olympic Highway between Rio’s Deodoro Zone — where events including hockey and rugby are staged — and the media transport mall in the Olympic Park.
Two windows were blown out during the attack. No one was hit, but up to three people were injured by shards of flying glass.
Conflicting accounts leave the cause of the shattered windows in doubt.
“We were shot at. I mean we could hear the report of the gun,” Sherryl “Lee” Michaelson, a retired U.S. air force captain who is on assignment for a basketball publication, told Reuters.
However, the Guardian reports that a journalist for Globo who was aboard the bus dismissed the notion of gunfire, explaining away the attack as the result of thrown rocks.
Atacado bus que transportaba a periodistas en Rio de Janeiro. https://t.co/bWvMvpxIdM pic.twitter.com/dr22RFybEe
— El Espectador (@elespectador) August 10, 2016
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement: “We are aware that a media bus traveling from Deodoro to Barra on the Transcarioca had two windows broken by objects coming from the surrounding area. The security authorities are now investigating the incident and we await their report before making further comment.”
The news of Tuesday’s attack comes days after a stray bullet ripped through a media tent during an equestrian event on Day 1 of the Games.