Emerson Royal, current Tottenham player and former Betis and Barça player, was unharmed in a shooting in São Paulo last Friday. The Brazilian explained this Wednesday in an interview on Globo Esporte how he was assaulted and how he was later caught up in the crossfire between the criminal and the police.
The lateral was with some friends in a house and around 2:50 in the morning he left the building in the direction of his car, parked two streets away. After taking a photo with a fan, Emerson ran into the criminal, who pointed a gun at him in front of his car. "If you get close I'll kill him. At that moment, God controlled me in some way because it seemed that nothing was happening," he began his account of what happened.
The defender did not resist and tried to listen to the assailant so that the situation would not escalate: "I approached the bandit saying 'calm down, calm down, we're calm, I'll give you whatever you want'". However, Emerson's collaboration was not enough to prevent the criminal from starting a shootout with the police.
"When I gave him what he wanted, I went over to him, because I had already seen his evil look. I saw that he wasn't there just because of the watch. When I handed it to him, he walked away and drew his gun to shoot me. When he was about to shoot me, I pushed him, he shot into the air, he lost his balance and a police officer shot him. He started running. We were 15 people in a square," Emerson continued.
"He starts shooting everywhere, but he doesn't hit anyone. 17 or 19 shots, if I'm not mistaken. He was carrying a 9mm semi-automatic, a weapon that is not normal," concluded Emerson, who gave "thank God": "I understood that it was a moment that could cost me my life, but it taught me to be careful in various situations. I'm calm now."
