2 dead, six wounded in Rio beach shootout

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Apr 7: At least two people died and six were wounded in Rio de Janeiro's famous Copacabana beach neighborhood during a daytime shootout between police and a burglar, authorities said.

One of the dead was a customer in one of the beachfront open-air bars, which are always crowded with tourists. A waiter suffered a head wound and was hospitalized in serious condition, police said yesterday.

The incident began when a resident of a luxury oceanside building spotted a burglar and called police.

The burglar shot and critically wounded an officer inside the building, then got onto the busy Avenida Atlantica that runs along the beach and exchanged fire with police, officials said.

He was shot and killed by officers on a side street after trying to hijack a taxi, they said.

Murder rates in Rio are among the highest in the world, but armed violence rarely spills into the city's tourist areas, being largely confined to slums and working-class districts.

Reuters