Former NBA player Carl Herrera has been shot by alleged robbers in Venezuela.
Reports said the 48-year-old was shot while inside a restaurant in Margarita Island on Saturday. He is now in stable condition.
Although born in Trinidad and Tobago, Herrera was the face of Venezuelan basketball in the 1990s.
The power forward was drafted in the second round (30th overall) by the Miami Heat in the 1990 NBA Draft after playing for the University of Houston. He did not sign with the Heat and instead began his professional career with Spanish club Real Madrid, whom he led to the Korac Cup final in 1991.
Herrera joined the Houston Rockets that same year and spent four seasons there, winning back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. He spent the next three seasons with the San Antonio Spurs before splitting the 1998-99 campaign with the Vancouver Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets.
In 465 regular season games, Herrera averaged 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds.
After his NBA stint, Herrera returned to the Venezuelan League where he played until 2008. He later became a head coach there.
Herrera also suited up for the Venezuelan national team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1990 and 2002 World Championships. He helped his country win the bronze medal at the 2001 South American Basketball Championship in Valdivia.
The attack on Herrera no longer came as a surprise in crime-ridden Venezuela where a number of celebrities have been kidnapped, robbed and even murdered.
Early this year, former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her ex-husband were killed during a highway robbery in Carabobo state.
Just a month after Spear’s murder, retired two-time world champion boxer Antonio Cermeno was shot dead and left by the roadside in the state of Miranda after he was kidnapped in east Caracas.
Reggae singer Juan David Chacón, Major League Baseball player Wilson Ramos and actress Elaiza Gil are just some celebrities in the South American nation who had encounters with criminals but managed to survive.
