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Dean Tiessen, co-founder of New Energy Farms in Leamington, Ontario, has been killed in a botched car-jacking during a business trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, reports say. He was fatally shot on Saturday on a highway outside the city.

Tiessen had been in Brazil since last month on a business trip for New Energy Farms. His last post on his Facebook page was a picture of an abandoned sugar factory and saying how it was going to be part of the “biofuel revolution.”

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Foreign Affairs has confirmed a Canadian died in Brazil but is providing no other details, only saying consular officials are in touch with the family. However, both the CBC and the Windsor Star confirmed that the dead man was Tiessen.

The robbery occured when a vehicle with Tiessen and his business partners was pulled off of the road, the CBC says. In the altercation Tiessen was shot twice.

Tiessen’s uncle, Victor Tiessen, told the Windsor Star his nephew was in Brazil on business and was supposed to return to Leamington Thursday.