Family of Atletico Madrid defender raided by eight assailants with guns | OneFootball

The family of Atletico Madrid defender Nahuel Molina are recovering after a shocking series of events in their native Argentina. Fortunately, it appears they have escaped the traumatic event largely unscathed, at least physically.

The incident occurred to Molina’s family in-law, with the father of Barbara Ochiuzzi recounting the events on Argentinian television. As explained by Marca, eight people in balaclavas entered their house with guns, and began to threaten the family, who were sat in the living room. Claudio Occhiuzzi was accompanied by his wife and two twins, who are just 10 years of age.

Police arrived on scene to shootout

Claudio then went on to detail that the assailants threatened him with a gun to his head asking where he kept cash, and were communicating by radios, suggesting it was a planned attack. In the end, with police arriving on the scene, he helped them to leave out of the back door. The police descended on the scene though, and a shoot-out between the authorities and the assailants took place. So far three of the eight have been arrested, with police continuing to investigate.

Image via Twitter / X. Molina and Occhiuzzi have been together since 2019.

“When they crossed the dining room door, they started shooting at the police. There were more than ten or fifteen shots. One ran outside, and three went back inside. It was the moment of greatest panic; I thought they were going to kill me, because maybe they thought I had warned them.”

“They were trying to get out through the back, so I went with them and tried to open the gate, which had a padlock. I was so nervous I couldn’t open it, and they kept putting the revolver to my head and threatening to pull the trigger.”

Footballer safety on the decline

Both footballers and their families are increasingly targets for organised crime. Former Barcelona man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and his family were the victims of an armed attack during his spell in Catalonia. Meanwhile Luis Diaz’s father was also kidnapped in recent years. Often, with footballers’ whereabouts public knowledge, they are the targets of robberies while they are playing away from home.