Gunmen shoot at supermarket owned by Messi's in-laws; leave a note for him

Gunmen shot into a supermarket owned by Lionel Messi's in-laws on Thursday in Argentina's third-largest city and left a threatening letter for soccer star, according to police.

The early-morning incident left no one hurt, and it was not known why the attackers chose to target Messi or the Rosario Unico grocery run by the Roccuzzo family, the husband of Messi's wife Antonella.

The mayor of Rosario, located about 190 miles (300 kilometres) northwest of Buenos Aires, Pablo Javkin, criticised federal authorities for what he claimed was their failure to stop a rise in drug-related violence.

Police said two men on a motorcycle fired at least a dozen shots into an Unico branch in the early hours, and left a message on a piece of carboard that read, "Messi, we're waiting for you. Javkin is also a drug trafficker, so he won't take care of you."

Politician blamed the criminal gangs and federal security in the attack

Javkin, a center-left politician opposed to the Peronist coalition in power, seemed to implicate both criminal gangs and federal security personnel in the attack.

"I doubt everyone, even those who are supposed to protect us," Javkin said in an interview with a local radio station.

The grocery, he claimed, was located in a crime-prone area of Rosario, and although he recently met with federal and provincial law enforcement officials to discuss the matter, no action was taken.

"Where are the ones who need to take care of us?" Javkin said. "It's clear that those who have the weapons and have the possibility of investigating the criminals aren't doing it, and it's very easy for any gang to carry out something like this."