Gunmen who opened fire Thursday at a supermarket owned by the in-laws of Lionel Messi reportedly left a threatening note for the Argentine soccer star, saying they were “waiting” for him.
There were no injuries in the incident in the early morning hours at the Unico supermarket in Rosario, Messi’s hometown about 190 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. The store is owned by the family of Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo.
According to the Associated Press, police said two men on a motorcycle fired at least a dozen shots into the store’s metal shutters and front door, leaving a message on a piece of cardboard saying: “Messi, we’re waiting for you. [Mayor Pablo] Javkin is a drug trafficker, so he won’t take care of you.” Local reports, via the Mirror, speculated that barra bravas, Argentine football supporters, could be behind the attack, and a local TV station suggested that the gunmen may be trying to extort money from the star player.
One of Roccuzzo’s cousins reportedly runs the store, one of a chain the Roccuzzo family has run in Rosario since the 1980s. Because Messi is a national hero and his in-laws at times still work in the store, it is a popular spot.
