Your quibbling about whether the gun was put at his forehead or whether it was just pointed at him. That makes not the slightest difference.
He, in fact, did not lie about having a gun pulled on him and a demand for money. Even the Brazilians acknowledge this. In question is whether he was aware it for repairs for door. Between average Brazilians and the Americans there certainly could be a language barrier communicating that.
Regardless of this, I can't believe that people feel people are justified threatening other people with guns over vandalism. Regardless of anything else that is a MASSIVE overreaction.
This ain't Canada, or even the States. The rules are different. People are living much closer to the edge of poverty and basic survival.
First off, if you're a visitor to another country, you should try especially hard not to be a dick.
Secondly, if that country is very poor, it is both extremely dangerous, and extremely arrogant to walk around destroying property. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the security guards would have been fired, or meager wages withheld if they had allowed those athletes to trash the place without paying. Many common folks in these countries are barely scraping by to afford the bare necessities of life. When you start trashing their stuff, you're messing with that. Again, that's dumb, dangerous, and arrogant as ****.
Third, I don't buy for one second that the athletes misunderstood the interaction. That they didn't put 1+1 together. That their vandalism (mere moments before) = pay for the crap you broke.
I travel a lot. I see these kinds of guys around who disrespect the people and culture. Who mistreat locals because of their "superior" wealth, or country, or whatever. 99 times out of 100, it ain't a misunderstanding. They're just jerks.
edit: reading this back, I came across a little harsher than intended towards your quote, Holden. I'm not annoyed at you. I'm annoyed at guys like Lochte.