Two U.S. Embassy workers were shot during a brawl that erupted at a strip club in Venezuela, and the State Department on Wednesday was still trying to figure out what happened.
The two officials were not seriously injured, The Associated Press reported. But it’s still not clear why the shooting occurred, and investigators are sifting through conflicting reports, AP said.
Police said that the two U.S. Embassy officials were inside the Antonella 2012 nightclub, located in the upper-class neighborhood of Chacao, in the basement of a shopping center, AP reported. One of the victims was Robert Ezequiel Rosas, a military attaché, who was shot in the leg just outside the club, police said. The other U.S. victim, who was reportedly shot in the abdomen, was not named in the report.
“Apparently, it was a fight originating in a nightspot where these people were attacked and shots were fired at them and they suffered gunshot wounds,” police spokesman Douglas Rico said, as quoted by AP. He said one victim was shot in the abdomen; the other, in the leg and abdomen.
The U.S. State Department confirmed the shooting of two embassy workers.
“Two members of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas were injured during an incident,” said State Department spokesman William Ostick, in the AP report. “Medical staff inform us that their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. Embassy security and health unit personnel are at the hospital and have been in touch with the two individuals and their families.”
Another State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, downplayed the incident somewhat, calling the site of the altercation “some sort of social spot or somewhere outside of the embassy grounds,” AP reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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