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Dutch tourist shooting mars start of Carnival in Rio

Sunday, February 14, 2010
RIO DE JANEIRO: A 37-year-old Dutch tourist was in hospital in Rio de Janeiro after being shot twice by a mugger who attacked him and his wife after the city's fabled Carnival festivities got under way, police told media.

"This is the worst crime we have had against a foreign tourist this year and we are worried about it," the head of the special tourist police unit handling the assault, Gilbert Stivanello, said Saturday.

The Dutchman, identified as Alexander Kors Johannes Vervoort, was shot in the stomach and arm during the assault late Friday. He remained in intensive care, though was conscious.

The crime occurred as Vervoort and his wife, Ella Vervoort Ferwerda, were walking alone to the summit of a hill where Rio's landmark giant Christ the Redeemer statue is located. The popular tourist spot attracts 1.8 million visitors a year.

The wife, also 37, was beaten about the head with a pistol but was not badly hurt.

The single mugger, described as a very young and small man, ran from the scene, leaving behind the camera, wallet, backpack and handbag he had been trying to steal.

Police were hunting him. The police chief said the man also risked being murdered by the drug gang which runs the slum where he lives, near the Christ statue, for bringing officers into their lawless neighborhood.

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