Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi received a threat on Thursday after gunmen in the country’s third-largest city opened fire at a shop run by his in-laws.
The early-morning incident left no one hurt, and it was not known why the attackers chose to target Messi or the Rosario Unico grocery run by the Roccuzzo family, the husband of Messi’s wife Antonella.
The mayor of Rosario, which is located around 190 miles northwest of the country’s capital Buenos Aires, Pablo Javkin, accused federal officials of failing to stop a spike in drug-related violence.
Authorities reported that two males riding a motorcycle opened fire on a Unico branch in the early morning hours, leaving a note on a piece of cardboard that read, “Messi, we’re waiting for you. Javkin won’t look after you because he is a drug dealer as well.
Messi, the leader of the team that led Argentina to its first World Cup victory in 36 years last year, has made no comments.
Messi, a player for Paris Saint-Germain, lives in the Rosario suburb of Funes and spends much of his time traveling abroad.
Mr Javkin, a centre-left politician in opposition to the ruling Peronist coalition, appeared to throw suspicion of complicity for the attack on both criminal gangs and federal security officials.
“I doubt everyone, even those who are supposed to protect us,” Mr Javkin said in an interview with a local radio station.
He said the supermarket was in a section of Rosario that has seen frequent crimes, that he has raised the issue in recent meetings with federal and provincial official law enforcement officials, and that no action has been taken.
“Where are the ones who need to take care of us?” Mr Javkin said.
“It’s clear that those who have the weapons and have the possibility of investigating the criminals aren’t doing it, and it’s very easy for any gang to carry out something like this.”
Messi, 35, is currently renegotiating a contract with Paris Saint-Germain that ends this year, amid speculation that the soccer superstar could decide to end his career playing for one of the local Rosario clubs, Newell’s.
Messi, who this week won Fifa’s best men’s player award, could travel to Argentina later this month to join the national squad in playing two friendly matches.
One takes place on March 23 against Panama in Buenos Aires, while the other one will be five days later against Curacao in the northern city of Santiago del Estero.
