Despite what some folks may think about paparazzi, I’m not sure that anything in the world warrants firing guns on them. At least, that’s what a pair of paparazzi are claiming that supermodel Giselle Bundchen’s bodyguards did to them. Petapixel is reporting that there was a pair working in Costa Rica back in 2009 and that Agence France Presse photographer Yuri Cortez and local shooter Carlos Aviles were photographing her wedding. The photographers were being uncooperative, apparently got into a spat of some sort with the guards who demanded that the photographers handed over their cameras and memory cards, and when they tried to escape they were fired on–with guns.
Now, presses are reporting that the duo were paparazzis, but Agence France Presse is actually a photo agency–and not a paparazzi agency. Trust me, I’d know. As many readers know, I cut my teeth in the photo world fresh out of college in the paparazzi world.
The Boston Herald has an image of the truck with alleged bullet shattered glass, and the story is everywhere now. It isn’t clear exactly what the photographers were doing that warranted the guards to act the way they did though.
The crazier fact; though this is the first time I’ve heard of bullets being fired on paparazzi, it is fairly common for weapons to be flashed at photographers. This not only includes mace, but guns, batons, and knives. It makes me wonder about brass knuckles. Either way though, we hope that the photographers win this suit. No word from Agence France Presse has been floating around.
