Woman hurt in Brazil shooting

CRIME: A British family were reportedly looking for water when they were shot at in Brazil, leaving the mother wounded. The victim was named as Eloise Dixon of Kent, who was with her partner and their three children.

A BRITISH family were reportedly looking for water when they were shot at in Brazil, leaving the mother wounded.

Local media named the injured victim as Eloise Dixon, inset, of Kent, and said she had been with her partner and their three children at the time.

The family were travelling in Angra dos Reis, a popular coastal holiday destination about 90 miles from Rio de Janeiro, police said. A language mix-up saw them directed to the Agua Santa neighbourhood, which translates to Holy Water, local newspapers said.

Authorities said a group approached the car at a favela and apparently told the family to get out and then opened fire.

A police statement said the woman was hit in the abdomen and was being treated in hospital.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are in touch with the local authorities in Angra dos Reis, Brazil, following reports of the shooting of a British national.”

Mrs Dixon, reportedly aged 46 and from Dartford, was said to have been holidaying with her husband, named as Maxwell Neil Dixon, and their three children. The family had been travelling on the main road from Rio to Santos but took a wrong turn on Sunday while looking for a place to buy water – agua in Portuguese – and entered the favela, according to local media. Local police detective Bruno Gilaberte said his officers were trying to confirm those reports, which had come from highway police. “They were confronted by criminals who ordered them to get out, and the car was hit by shots from a firearm,” Mr Gilaberte said.

“Because of the language difficulties, there was some confusion. They ended up going to the Agua Santa neighbourhood where they were targeted by criminals.

“They were shot at after failing to understand the order they were given to leave the area.”

Mrs Dixon’s husband, who was driving, returned to the main road after the shooting and kept driving until reaching a highway police post where the victim was rushed to hospital.

Sebastião Faria, general director of the Japuíba hospital in Angra dos Reis where Mrs Dixon is being cared for, said she was in a stable condition.

He reportedly said: “She is fine. After her surgery she is fine, with the expectation of being discharged within 48 to 72 hours. She was hit in the abdomen and another bullet grazed her thorax.”

Rodrigo Mucheli, medical director of the hospital, told Brazil’s TV Globo that Dixon was lucky to be alive.

He said luckily the bullet did not strike any major blood vessels or organs.

Brazilian station TV Globo showed the family’s rented silver Renault. Mrs Dixon was said to have been sitting in the passenger seat and the children were in the back seat.

Globo showed a bullet hole in the front passenger door, two burst tyres, and also a bullet mark in the passenger seat headrest.

Police had begun an investigation and were “following some interesting inquiry lines”.

The Rio area has many favelas, shanty towns which house communities of low-income Brazilians. Some are seen as no-go areas.

Agua Santa favela is controlled by the Red Command, a major drugs gang.