A stray gunshot injured the mother of a Puerto Rican Olympian while she was sewing at her Connecticut home over the weekend, authorities and her daughter said.
On Saturday afternoon, Mabel Martinez, 56, was shot in the head by a gunman who opened fire on a man strolling outside her Waterbury home. According to authorities, she died the next day as a result of her injuries.
Despite being shot in the leg, the man remained uninjured.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo told the Associated Press that the gunshot was drug-related and that Martinez was not the intended target.
Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rican Olympic squad who competed in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year. The 27-year-old also competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The daughter sent a sorrowful statement on social media about her mother’s untimely and brutal death.
“How come you?” Why is it that way? She posted on Facebook in Spanish, “If you were just sitting in your house stitching, like you used to do…”
“You phoned me two days ago, eager,” she added on Sunday, “asking me to preserve the date and assist you in planning to renew your wedding vows with father in Puerto Rico.”
“There are still a lot of things I need to learn from you… “I couldn’t even say goodbye to you since I was so far away and couldn’t do anything,” the daughter said.
According to Gilberto Hernández, head of the Puerto Rico Shooting Association, the Olympian travelled from Brazil to Connecticut late Sunday. Read More……
