A retired U.S. Air Force captain who now covers women’s basketball says an Olympic media bus in Rio de Janeiro was hit by gunfire en route from a venue.
Britain’s Press Association on Wednesday quoted Lee Michaelson, who was on the bus Tuesday, as saying that she instinctively hit the floor when she heard the sound of gunfire and “hollered to the others ... ‘Get down! Get down! We are taking fire.’”
Capt. Michaelson said “I know what a gun sounds like. There was a very distinctive sound of the report of a gun. It was the sound before I ever saw the glass (shatter) or anything.”
Police are investigating but Olympic officials say it’s not clear whether the incident was caused by bullets or stones. Capt. Michaelson says both the bus driver and Olympic officials sorely lacked training. The driver slowed down and pulled over, which she says is “precisely the opposite of what he should have done, which was to put the gas on and floor it.”
When they returned to the Olympic park, she says there was no medical help waiting, despite some passengers being injured and bleeding.
