Juan Enrique Lira (27 October 1927 – 12 March 2007) was a Chilean

sports shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as ...

. He competed at the

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

and

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. Lira later became a photo editor for the Santiago newspaper ''

El Mercurio ''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in ...

'' and was working allowed into the Chilean presidential palace, "La Moneda" after the coup d'état of September 11, 1973 overthrew President

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

. Lira was the first to tell reporters after the coup that Allende and the presidential press secretary had shot themselves to death as Chilean troops were preparing to storm the building. "Military Seizes Power in Chile; Allende Reportedly Kills Self" ("Juan Enrique Lira, photo editor for the newspaper

, who was permitted inside the palace later, said Allende and his press secretary shot themselves to death as the troops closed in."), UPI report in, ''Los Angeles Times'', September 12, 1973, p.I-1

References

1927 births 2007 deaths Chilean male sport shooters Olympic shooters for Chile Shooters at the 1960 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1964 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1968 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Santiago {{Chile-sportshooting-bio-stub