Lebanese footballer dies of bullet wound

A prominent Lebanese footballer has died of a bullet wound sustained last month during a funeral for one of the victims of the Beirut port blast, his club said Friday.

Mohamed Atwi, 32, played as a midfielder for a number of Lebanese clubs and won the national league three times with Beirut’s Ansar, his club for almost a decade.

“A sad day for sport… a great loss for Lebanese football,” Wael Chehayeb, an official with his latest club Al-Akhaa al-Ahly, posted on social media.

Tributes poured in for the player, who was also capped three times for his country.

Atwi was hit in the head by a bullet as he walked on a street in a Beirut neighborhood last month.

Initial reports suggested he was struck by a falling bullet fired in the air from a nearby procession mourning one of the firefighters killed in the August 4 port explosion.

Atwi’s family, however, has demanded a full investigation into the circumstances of his death, over which no arrests have been made.

Shooting in the air for celebrations and funerals is common in Lebanon despite recurring injuries from falling bullets.