2 US Embassy officials shot in Venezuelan capital

Two officials from the US Embassy in Venezuela have been shot in a nightclub in Caracas, but their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

One official was shot in the leg and abdomen and the other was shot in the abdomen on Tuesday, Venezuelan police spokesman Douglas Rico said.

“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,” Rico stated.

The Venezuelan media identified the victims as Roberto Ezequiel Rosas and Paul Marwin and said they were military attaches at the embassy, but the State Department did not mention their names or posts.

A Venezuelan police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to reporters, identified one of the victims as military attache Roberto Ezequiel Rosas. She did not provide details about the other man.

State Department spokesman William Ostick confirmed that “two members of the US Embassy in Caracas were injured during an incident” early on Tuesday.

“Medical staff inform us that their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening,” Ostick said. “Embassy security and health unit personnel are at the hospital and have been in touch with the two individuals and their families.”

State Department official Patrick Ventrell said that the incident occurred in “some sort of social spot or somewhere outside of the embassy grounds.”

“I am not sure if it was a restaurant, or a nightclub, or what the actual establishment was, but that is why we are in touch with embassy personnel,” he added.