Unknown assailants attacked a car carrying money from a business owned by Lionel Messi’s in-laws and based in the city of Rosario, stealing $21,500 and opening fire, according to a related police statement.

The two perpetrators broke the windows of the car carrying two supermarket employees which belongs to the family of Antonella Roccuzzo, Messi’s wife, as well as her cousin. They then removed two bags containing proceeds of 8 million pesos (US$21,500), which were to be deposited in a bank in downtown Rosario. Before fleeing in a car, the attackers fired at least once.

This is not the first time Messi’s in-laws’ business has been targeted in Rosariothe hometown of the captain of the world champion, national team of Argentina, as last March, strangers had sent a threatening message, an action that was assessed by the investigators, as having been done in the context of political confrontations at the local level.

“The supermarket works with a private security company,” Commissioner Diego Santamaria told reporters at the scene. Analyzes of surveillance cameras, fingerprints and hearings are underway “to find out who knew” about the transfer of funds, he added.

The port of Rosario, is the third largest in Argentina (1 million inhabitants) and is considered the most dangerous, as in recent years it has become a drug-trafficking hotspot, with a homicide rate of 22 per 100,000 inhabitants, or four times the national average.