Brazil Olympics guard dies after being shot in head

By Senabri Silvestre

SANTO DOMINGO, Dom. Rep.

Brazil declared a day of mourning Friday after the death of an Olympics security guard who was shot in the head in a favela in Rio de Janeiro.

"In consideration of the high level of excellence and the importance of the work dedicated to ensuring the safety of the Rio Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2016 … our president, Michel Temer enacts an official day of mourning for the death of our hero", Justice Minister Alendrande Moraes said in statement.

Hélio Andrade Vieira, 35, was a "a true hero of the country" and a member of the military police with the state of Roraima, who suffered "a cowardly attack" with automatic weapons in Mare, one of the largest slums in northern Rio, according to Moraes.

Vieria and two other officers were working security near the games and took a wrong turn into the favela after getting lost late Wednesday.

The officers were using a GPS device to make their way though the streets of the city but took a turn off of a highway that was leading to the city’s airport. Their vehicle was hit with bullets but the other officers suffered minor injuries, according to authorities.

After the shooting, the National Security Force deployed dozens of soldiers and Federal Police agents to the area that is dominated by armed gangs of drug traffickers.

Security at the games had been a concern even before athletes arrived in Rio and Vieria’s death comes on the heels of other high-profile criminal incidents.

A bus transporting journalists covering the games was attacked with stones Tuesday night, according to the ministry of security of Rio de Janeiro. A Belarusian journalist and a volunteer suffered minor injuries in the attack. An American on the bus who identified herself as a former military officer said she believed the attack was from gunfire.

Reports of athletes being robbed and have also been a concern for authorities and a number of sexual assault cases have also been opened.

Brazil mobilized 85,000 police and military officials to secure the games, which is the largest security plan deployed in the history of the city and the Olympics.

That figure is more than double the 42,000 soldiers used at the 2012 London Games.