Lebanese soccer player Mohammed Atwi dies from stray bullet head wound

Lebanon's leading soccer player Mohammed Atwi died on Friday, nearly a month after he was wounded in Beirut by a stray bullet that hit him in the head, the state-run National News Agency reported. He was 33.

Atwi had been in the intensive care unit since the Aug. 21 shooting. The origin of the stray bullet that struck him was never determined.

The case shocked Lebanon, where firings from guns and rifles into the air in the celebration are common at weddings, funerals, or when political leaders give speeches even when a student passes high school exams.

After Atwi was shot, many Lebanese started calling on the government to take strict measures against such firing off into the air. Several people have been killed by stray bullets in Lebanon in recent years.

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun tweeted that "it is regrettable that international player Mohammed Atwi joined the list of young people that Lebanon lost because some don't know the dangers caused by their irresponsible behavior."

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