Musician With GoPro Films Himself Being Mugged During Pope Francis Mass in Ecuador [Video]
Pope Francis was in Quito, Ecuador, on Tuesday and a musician, walking around with his GoPro filming the crowds, caught on video a man who was following him. The musician also managed to capture the moment he stole his cellphone. Pope Francis’ tour of South America certainly brings some interesting news, controversy, and unusual stories. Ecuador was no exception. Diego Miño is a drummer with a local musical group in Ecuador, and he wanted to get video footage of the crowd attending the open air mass given by Pope Francis in his hometown of Quito.
When your cousin records the pope with his gopro — lorde (@saeradurrani) July 10, 2015
As reported by the Mirror, Miño walked around among the crowd using a selfie stick with his GoPro, generally filming the people surrounding him and singing along to the music, totally unaware at the time what was happening.
As the video footage continues above, it is possible to see a man dressed in black appearing behind Miño on multiple occasions and eventually reaching into his pocket and stealing his cellphone and disappearing into the crowd.
GoPro uses films himself at Pope Francis’ Ecuador mass and spots his pickpocket http://t.co/hBKVjZ0Geu pic.twitter.com/9q6iG0Xjy4 — DailyNew5 (@DailyNew5) July 10, 2015
Ecuador is a poor nation, and Miño apparently looked like a rich tourist as he walked around carrying all his expensive equipment while hoping to get video footage of Pope Francis, which most likely attracted the pickpocket to him. It was probably soon after this that Miño noticed his cellphone had gone and on viewing the footage he had captured, he soon spotted the man who kept appearing over and over again during his filming of the crowd celebrating the attendance of Pope Francis in their city.
He uploaded the video footage to YouTube on July 8, and it has already received over 200,000 views. The clip, lasting under two minutes clearing shows the criminal, and he hopes that by uploading the video, someone will recognize the thief and he can be brought to justice. Miño says in the description of the video that the theft of his cellphone happened at 9:50 a.m. in Bicentennial Park, adding, “If you know anything of these criminals, please notify the police, thanks.” According to the Independent, the incident involving Miño’s mugging happened on the fourth and final day of the Pope’s visit to Ecuador, where he celebrated two outdoor masses, attended by at least a million people. Pope Francis made an impassioned plea for “dialogue” in a country rocked by anti-government protests. After leaving Ecuador, the Pope headed to the poorest nation in South America, Bolivia. As reported on the Inquisitr, a rather more amusing incident happened during his visit to Santa Cruz in Bolivia, when Pope Francis was seen to be heading into a local Burger King outlet restaurant. Pope Francis wasn’t going for a burger, however, as the restaurant was chosen as the ideal spot to change his vestments for the huge open air mass held in the city. The Pope’s last stop will be in Paraguay for the third and final leg of his South American trip. In the meantime, Diego Miño hopes someone will recognize and help police track down the thief who targeted him during such an important event in his town while everyone celebrated the open air mass with Pope Francis. [Image: Screengrab from YouTube video]
