• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Bodyguards shoot at photographers in Costa Rica

Two photographers reported being shot at by bodyguards outside the home of Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bündchen in the western Costa Rican city of Santa Teresa de Cóbano on the afternoon of April 4, 2009, according to local and international news reports. No one was injured.

Yuri Cortez, a Salvadoran photographer for Agence France-Presse, was among dozens of journalists attempting to photograph Bündchen's wedding to U.S. football player Tom Brady when he was approached by a man who claimed to be a bodyguard for the supermodel, according to press reports. The bodyguard tried to grab Cortez's camera and called two other men to the scene before Cortez and Rolando Aviles, a photographer for the local daily Al Día, got into their vehicle, AFP reported. The photographers told local reporters that they were followed by at least one of the men who fired a gunshot, breaking the car's rear window.

The photographers filed a complaint with local police, who said they were investigating the incident, reports in the international press said. Brady's agent, Don Yee, said the couple's security personnel had not reported a confrontation, according to The Associated Press.

April 13, 2009 4:42 PM ET

Topics: Freedom of information, Freedom of expression,