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Journalism of Courage
Former Colombia footballer Albeiro 8216;Palomo8217; Usuriaga was shot dead at his home in Cali yesterday. Usuriaga, 37, was playing cards with friends when he was shot several times with a handgun. Police colonel Mario Gutierrez said there were no leads at present. Usuriaga is not the first footballer to be murdered. Often, the reason is not necessarily footballing. Micky Aigner takes a look at some of the other recent footballing homicides
BAD BUSINESS SENSE
SHOOTING OFF THE BALL
8226; Things don8217;t get more bizarre than when an off-duty security guard became angry after the ball landed in his private backyard and used his shotgun to punish former Honduras star Jorge Martinez.
DRUGS THE CAUSE
8226; San Pedro Sula, a notoriously violent part of Honduras, woke up to a Sunday morning shock in January 2003 when international goalkeeper Milton Flores was gunned down in his car. Flores 29, a Real Espana player 8216;8216;believed to be involved with the drug mafia8217;8217;, was talking to a prostitute when a shower of bullets got him.
SUICIDE, COLOMBIAN STYLE
8226; The best-known of the lot. A self-goal in the World Cup cost Colombian defender Andres Escobar his life. Having returned home after a nighmarish World Cup, Escobar, 27, was shot 12 times outside a nightclub in Medellin, considered by many to be the most dangerous city in the world. Witnesses reported that one of the hitmen shouted 8216;Goal!8217; 8216;Goal!8217; while pumping bullets into the hapless defender.
BLOODIED CLUBS
8226; Not one but three owners of Yugoslav clubs were killed in successive years 8212; 1999-2001. On July 22, 2001, Zvezdara Belgrade8217;s 48-year-old owner Branislav Trojanovic was shot in the head four times outside his suburban home. Prior to Trojanovic8217;s death, Jusuf Bulic, owner of FC Zeleznik Belgrade, was killed in 1999, while Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan, of 2001 champions Obilic, was killed a year later.
