Weightlifter Edwin Mosquera Roa, who competed at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, was shot dead on Saturday after getting into a heated argument with a fellow patron at a bar in his native Colombia.
Mosquera, 32, was gunned down following a verbal altercation with a stranger in a commercial establishment in the Villa de las Palmas area in Palmira, in southwestern Colombia. The killer had reportedly left a nightclub with his partner before entering the bar, where he exchanged profanities with Mosquera before fatally shooting him in the head and knee.
The local government has offered a reward of up to 10 million pesos ($3,400) for information relating to the killer’s whereabouts, which remain unknown.
The Colombian Weightlifting Federation expressed its condolences to friends and family of the athlete. “The lifting of weights is in mourning, Edwin Mosquera, outstanding athlete who represented Colombia in the past Olympic Games Rio 2016, passed away yesterday, and our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” it said in a statement, as reported by The Sun.
Mosquera finished 15th in the men’s 69kg category at the Rio Games. He was a double gold medalist at the Pan American Weightlifting championships, winning in 2008 and 2010.