The mother of a Puerto Rican Olympian was killed by a stray bullet while sewing at her home in Connecticut at the weekend, according to the athlete and police.
Police believe Mabel Martinez, 56, was an innocent passerby and the target was apparently a man walking outside her home in Waterbury. He injured his leg and survived. No arrests have been announced.
Mabel Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rican Olympic team that competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Mabel Martinez died Sunday after being shot in the head on Saturday afternoon, police said.
The 27-year-old Mercado Martinez expressed her anxiety in posts on social media.
“Why you? Why this way? Just sit in your house and sew, as you always did,” he wrote in Spanish.
“Two days ago you called me enthusiastically, asking me to save the date and help you prepare to renew your wedding vows with your dad in Puerto Rico,” he said Sunday. “There are so many things I still needed to learn from you; I was so far away from doing anything, I could not even say goodbye.”
She wrote that the family intends to bring her mother’s body to Puerto Rico “so that her friends and family can say goodbye to her”.
“I apologize to Puerto Rico because even if I wanted to, I really can not fight, my place is with my family,” he wrote.
A message asking for comment was left on Monday for Mercado Martinez.
The athlete flew out of Brazil late Sunday and arrived in Connecticut, according to Gilberto Hernandez, president of Puerto Rico Shooting, the sport’s governing body in the United States.
Hernandez said it was unclear when the body would arrive in Puerto Rico for burial, adding that the shooting association was helping to pay for some of the funeral expenses.
“We believe he will overcome it,” he told the Associated Press. “It simply came to our notice then. “The doors of the club are always open.”
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said investigators believe the shooting was drug-related and had nothing to do with Mabel Martinez.
“It was definitely an accidental, tragic act of violence,” he told the AP. “She was at home. That is not the goal. “
Spagnolo said relatives were extremely upset, including Mabel Martinez’s husband, whom he described as inconsolable.
He said the investigation had been “very, very active” since Saturday.
AP journalist Danica Coto contributed to this report from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
