Three doctors, including the brother of a leftist federal lawmaker, were shot dead in Rio de Janeiro, shaking Brazilian politics. And in a city accustomed to violence, there was a sea of suspicion about the motive for the crime. In addition to the possibility of political motives, another line of investigation adopted by Rio police is that one of the orthopedic surgeons killed early Thursday morning may have been confused with members of a paramilitary group in the west of the city. Thing.
Among the dead are Diego Ralph Bomfim, He is the younger brother of Federal Member of Parliament Samia Bomfim and brother-in-law of Member of Parliament Glauber Braga.both from the Socialist Liberal Party (PSOL). Braga is also famous for his speeches to the militias in Rio de Janeiro., a far-right parapolice group known as the Death Squad that competes for deals with drug traffickers. PSOL is part of the support base of President Lula’s government and is in charge of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, headed by Sonia Guajajara.
Marcos de Andrade, director of the Institute of Orthopedic Traumatology at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine, and Perseu Ribeiro Almeida, an orthopedic surgeon and trauma specialist specializing in foot and ankle surgery, also died. Ankle from savage shooting. A fourth doctor was injured and remains hospitalized. They were all from São Paulo and had traveled to Rio de Janeiro to attend the International Orthopedic Congress.
20 shots and many questions
According to security camera footage, the four doctors were sharing a table at a seaside stall in front of the hotel where they were staying when gunmen got out of a white vehicle and fired at least 20 shots. The suspects quickly returned to their vehicle and left the scene.
There were other customers at the restaurant at the time of the attack, but they were all uninjured. “There was no conversation, there was no shouting. They arrived and they opened fire. It was very fast. In just 30 seconds everything had already happened. Then we realized it wasn’t a robbery. “I realized it was an execution,” said a witness at the scene.
Police have launched an investigation to uncover the author and motive of this triple murder, which shocked the local media and raised countless questions. The main focus of the research is to evaluate the death penalty hypothesis. The suspects fired shots and left the scene without anything..
Minister of Justice, Flavio Dinohinted at the possibility without providing details. Crimes due to political bias, in response, he ordered federal police to closely monitor the incident. In another unusual move, Mr. Dino sent Riccardo Cappelli, number two at the Ministry of Justice, to Rio to work with federal police and local government leaders on the incident.
In the afternoon, a new theory emerged indicating that a crime had been committed by mistake. Suspicion is Perseu Ribeiro Almeidaone of the victims, The killers identified him as Taillon de Alcantara Pereira Barbosawas accused by the state Department of Public Works of forming a Member of the Rio das Pedras militia. Barbosa was arrested in November 2020 and sentenced to eight years and five months in prison. He was placed under house arrest in March this year and was released on parole 10 days ago.
The investigation that led to his arrest was part of Operation Untouchable, which targeted Adriano da Nobrega, a former military police officer with ties to former President Jair Bolsonaro’s family. Police suspect the murderer was disorderly. Physical similarities between Barbosa and Almeida: shaved hair, beard, glasses. This line of investigation is strengthened by the fact that Barboza has two residences in his name on Calle Lucio Costa, near the scene of the murder.
According to the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, surveillance images from the crime scene show that Almeida was the first target to be struck by gunfire. It was at him that one of the criminals confirmed the execution and returned to fire a new shot. According to the video, the victims were unaware of the gunman’s approach until after the first shots were fired.
Hugo Dantas, Ribeiro Almeida’s brother-in-law, came from Brasilia to identify the body. “Perseus studied all his life and was a very hard-working man. He had two small children, a boy of 11 years old and a girl of 3 years old. He was a very righteous man. It was the first time he came “I went to Rio to attend a medical conference. This was a very serious fatal accident and the family is shocked and very sad,” Dantas said in a statement to Agencia Brasil.
The capital, Fluminense, has historically experienced high levels of violence due to conflicts between drug traffickers and paramilitary groups, but in March 2018, an apparently politically motivated murder led to the death of a city councilor. Mariel Franco was shot dead along with his driver. Even today, the identity of the intellectual who wrote Franco’s Death is unknown.
In 2023 alone, 12 massacres have already been recorded in western Rio de Janeiro.. This is evidenced by an investigation by the Fogo Cruzado Institute, which counted the murders of three doctors. The 12 massacres investigated resulted in 43 deaths, seven of which were related to police operations. The Fogo Cruzado project initially appeared as an application developed by Amnesty International and was launched in 2016 to monitor mass shooting incidents.
The policy was unanimously rejected
The political world expressed a collective condemnation of the crime, which was described as “barbaric”, and social networks were flooded with messages of condolence for MP Samia Bomfim and her partner Glauber Braga. president lulaHe is recovering from hip surgery and said: Received the news of the execution “with great sadness and indignation” Of the three doctors.
Many government ministers echoed the same reaction, calling for those responsible to be quickly identified. “This heinous crime must be rigorously investigated and those responsible must be identified and punished,” Director-General of Health Nicia Trindade said at the second home of the affected members. I know pain,” he said.
The president of the National Assembly, Senator Rodrigo Pacheco, also insisted it was “essential” to uncover the motive behind this “horrible incident”. The call was joined by Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who called the killing “despicable.”
PSOL state senators José Josemar and Flavio Serafini called for a swift investigation of the facts. “It’s a sad moment. The family has lost their son at the age of 35 and is deeply affected. Our extremists are also outraged, saying this was an execution, a barbaric crime and it is essential that we understand. “We are demanding speed from both the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo governments,” Josemar said.