( TurkishDailyNews ) Police shot and wounded a Spanish tourist and an Italian resident in Brazil, apparently mistaking them for local thieves, authorities in northeastern Brazil said. Italian Innocenzo Brancati , 39, and his Brazilian wife were confronted by police after they left the airport of Fortaleza with his Spanish friend Marcelino Ruiz Ponpeu and his wife, who was not iedentified , said Luiz Viana , press spokesman for the Ceara state government in Fortaleza . As they headed for Brancati's house in the tourist resort, police opened fire on the car, Viana said. The Italian was lightly wounded on the arm but Ponpeu was shot in the spine and listed in serious condition, with the risk of becoming paraplegic, the spokesman said. Viana said police claimed the car refused to stop at a roadblock. But he said police may have confused the car with another used by local thieves, who had just stolen the automatic teller of a government cleaning company but dropped the money during their getaway. The 10 state police agents are under investigation, Viana said. Brancati is a permanent reident of Brazil and reported the shooting to the Italian embassy in Brasilia, the capital.