TRIBUTES have been paid to a Scots translator shot dead during a pub raid in Brazil.
The Foreign Office yesterday confirmed the victim was 39-year-old Jason Richard Stevens, who was killed in Sao Paulo on Wednesday after reportedly stepping in to confront armed robbers as they demanded cash, bank cards and wallets from customers.
Mr Stevens is understood to have been born in Scotland but has lived in South America for decades. He was a former pupil at Sao Paulo 's bilingual British school, St Paul's, where his mother is a teacher.
Headteacher Louise Simpson said: "Our most sincere condolences are with her and her family at the time of this tragic event. The school community has been informed and has offered support and sympathy to the family."
The Portuguese speaker was reportedly shot in the stomach, leg and arm as he tried to talk to one of the two gunmen, who had burst into the bar at around 11pm local time.
Mr Stevens had been playing sinuca, a Brazilian form of snooker, with friends when the robbery began in the upmarket district of Interlagos, close to the city's famous Formula One circuit.
Witnesses told police that one robber had guarded the door while the other collected wallets, bank cards and about 780 real (£200) from customers.
One report said Mr Stevens had been trying to calm the robber down after he started getting agitated when he saw some customers refuse to hand over belongings and try to overpower his accomplice.
The bar owner, Hugo Bachega, said he thought the man had become uneasy when confronted by Mr Stevens, who was more than 6ft tall.
Mr Bachega said: "He [Mr Stevens] was at a bar when two robbers entered the place. One of them was armed, and witnesses that were quoted by local media say that Jason Richard Stevens went to talk to one of the robbers.
"It seems that the robber was surprised by how tall he was and shot him dead."
The pair then fled the scene in a Black Ford Fiesta driven by a third man, while Mr Stevens was treated at the scene for his injuries. It is understood he was pronounced dead en route to hospital.
No-one has been arrested to date in relation to the crime. Police have sent a bullet away for forensic tests in a bid to track down the robbers.
Mr Stevens's family have yet to comment publicly on the tragedy. He is believed to be a father of one school-aged daughter born in Brazil to an ex-partner.
The Foreign Office confirmed Mr Stevens's death but has not yet confirmed the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national on 22 October in Brazil and are providing consulate assistance to the family at this difficult time."
Mr Stevens's comes just six months after 48-year-old Scottish oil worker Peter Campsie was shot dead by two gunmen during an attempted carjacking as he returned to his family home in the city of Macae, to the north of Rio de Janeiro. The operations manager for Diamond Offshore Drilling International was shot twice in April as he tried to flee in his car.
Gun crime is a major problem in Brazil. Firearm murders account for nearly 35,000 deaths a year - 70 per cent of all homicides - compared to some 9000 in the United States.
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