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Brazil is one of the many countries on the planet where people tend to take soccer very, very seriously, and that reality led to a pretty wild scene unfolding courtesy of a military police officer who’s at the center of an investigation after shooting a player in the leg with a rubber bullet at close range.
I thought it was safe to assume the massive brawl involving Uruguayan players and Colombian fans at a Copa América match on Wednesday was a shoo-in for the wildest soccer-related skirmish of the week, but that certainly did not end up being the case thanks to what unfolded in the wake of a contest between two second division teams in Brazil the same day.
According to ESPN, Centro Oeste earned a 2-1 win over Grêmio Anápolis during a showdown on Wednesday night before the two teams found themselves involved in a brawl on the pitch that led to military police officers who were on the scene at the latter’s Jonas Duarte Stadium intervening.
However, it would appear one of the members of that responding squad got a bit too overzealous based on a pretty shocking clip that’s made the rounds.
It looked like tensions had largely simmered down when one of the police officers who was trading words with the players lifted up the shotgun he was holding around a second before he fired a rubber bullet into the leg of Grêmio Anápolis goalkeeper Ramón Souza, who could be seen hopping away as other players quickly scrambled from the area.
🇹🇹| GOLEIRO DO GREMIO ANÁPOLIS ACABA DE TOMAR UM TIRO DA POLICIA AO FINAL DA PARTIDA
🎥 @rbgoiania pic.twitter.com/rIDZVlg7f1— Brasileirão da Opressão (@brasileiraoopre) July 11, 2024
The club eventually shared a photo of the bloody wound that required Souza to be taken away in an ambulance for further treatment in an Instagram post where it decried the ” horrible, unbelievable and criminal act” while calling for the officer who fired the shot to be punished.
Military police announced they’ve launched an investigation into tha matter, and while Souza is expected to make a full recovery, it’s unclear how long he’ll be out of commision.