Javier Florez buys his way out of chokey

Atletico Junior’s Javier Florez was driving home from a defeat in Columbia’s Copa Mustang tournament in July when he was hassled by a group of fans. Instead of rising above their torments, the midfielder decided to let his gun do the talking. A 27-year-old electrician named Israel Campillo was murdered when he fired several shots at the group.

Florez surrendered himself to the police shortly after the incident, and admitted that he was drunk at the time. Despite admitting to a very heinous crime, the troubled star has been released from prison after paying 150m pesos ($75,000) to the victim’s family.

In addition to compensating the family, Florez had to pay a fine of just 1.5m pesos ($750) in order to get out of prison.

With such lenient punishments, is it any wonder that Colombia has a world-beating murder rate?

Javier Flórez shoots a supporter for calling him “weak”

As Andrés Escobar discovered fifteen years ago, Colombian football and gunpoint murders go together like peas and carrots. The latest victim of this unfortunate harmonious relationship is a fan of Atletico Junior, who pushed Javier Flórez over the edge.

Apparently, the midfielder was driving home after a defeat to Once Caldas in the Apertura tournament when a group of youths started hassling him. When they shouted “Weak! Weak!” at him, he allegedly got out of his car and started firing. 27-year-old electrician Israel Campillo was killed after finding himself on the wrong end of two bullets.

Witnesses claim the footballer fled the scene on foot, at which point enraged locals in the Barranquilla neighbourhood destroyed his car with stones.

Flórez has since handed surrendered himself to the police.

[Marca]

Merry supporter gets a cap in his ass

The 2006 factual documentary Borat would have us believe that Kazakhstan and its neighbouring countries are not quite civilised enough to be familiar with firearms, but an England fan has found out that this is not quite the case.

Getting in some serious drinking preparation before Saturday’s World Cup Qualifier, an over zealous supporter and his friends were chanting in a bar in Kyrgyzstan, apparently oblivious to the fact that Kyrgyzstan is an entirely different country to Kazakhstan (just like we were before we looked it up on Wikipedia).

A local in the bar took exception to their obnoxious singing and asked them to stop. When they failed to comply, the angry Kyrgyzstani skipped the part where he asked them politely again, instead choosing to shoot one of them in the leg with a pistol.

The injured man - believed to be from Rochdale - was rushed to a hospital, where the bullet was removed. He is said to be recovering after discharging himself, but it is not known if he has stopped chanting yet.

A tip of the hat to handsome devil Brooks Peck for the image

Romanian assistant ref packs heat for his own protection

Just this morning we were praising a Romanian footballer, who won a penalty but refused to take it as he did not feel he had been fouled. Perhaps the player wouldn’t have showed so much insolence, if he knew of the tendency for Romanian officials to carry guns.

In a recent match between Romanian sides Popesti Stefan and Unirea Dragalina, the referee allowed a questionable goal. This angered the home fans, some of whom ran onto the pitch to protest. In a mobile phone video submitted to German website Bild, the assistant referee is hounded, and then seen to pull a gun from under his jersey.

Revealing a deadly weapon was a successful method of calming the crowd down, but it has landed the official in hot water with the police.

Click here to see the video.

It’s referees with guns!

Referees who are looking for a way to deal with the recent spate of unsightly two-footed challenges should turn to their counterparts in Kuala Lumpur for inspiration.

In a heated match that took place two weeks ago, a referee attempted to control the game using the best method he knew how: he scurried to his car, retrieved a