Man shot dead in Rio de Janeiro metro

A man was shot dead Friday in Rio de Janeiro's usually safe metro, just one stop from the headquarters of the city's Olympics organizing committee.

"There was an assault, followed by murder in the entrance to Uruguaiana station," Metro Rio said on Twitter.

Another person was wounded in the leg.

The bloodshed was a shock for Rio, whose subway system has long been a haven from the crime wave above ground.

The city, which is getting ready to host the 2016 Olympic Games, has had 534 murders in just the first five months of this year, according to official statistics.

However, the last murder in the often chaotic city's clean and well-maintained metro was in 2003.

G1 news site published photos of the bloodied victim lying on his back.

Witnesses said he'd been attacked by three people, one of them armed, and that they fled with his wallet.

"I saw him running and running in the metro. I tried to get closer and I heard a shot," witness Pablo Rodrigues told AFP.

After the incident, police sealed off the station, which is a short distance from the Rio 2016 Olympics organizing committee offices.