Four people shot dead by military police officer in Brazil’s Porto Alegre

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL –  Four people were shot dead in a pizzeria on Avenida Manoel Elias in Porto Alegre in the early hours of this Sunday (13), according to the civil police. A military police officer came forward and took responsibility for the shooting.

The military brigade opened an internal procedure to investigate the matter and informed that the officer will be suspended from his duties during this investigation.

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RBS TV spoke with the police officer’s lawyer. According to Roger Lopes da Silva, the police officer is “very shaken” by what happened. “It was not what he wanted,” the lawyer says.

Images from security cameras obtained by RBS TV show the man entering the pizzeria and hiding in a room. Shortly after, the group enters the premises and surrounds the police officer. The man shoots inside the room and leaves, reappearing with the gun in his hand.

According to the head of the Porto Alegre homicide squad, Vanessa Pitrez, the man had had a disagreement with the group of six people, four men, and two women.

The reason and circumstances of the dispute are being investigated.

“He tried to hide and people chased him. He was alone, there were six people [in the group] and they pushed him into a corner. According to his version, he had no other way to defend himself and was in danger of having his gun taken away and being killed by his own gun,” the deputy says.

After the shooting, the military policeman came forward, admitted the shooting, and handed over the weapon. Because he came forward spontaneously and based on the version of self-defense, the police officer was not charged.

“We have a situation of possible self-defense that will be examined during the investigation with other evidence and testimony to see if it is confirmed,” stresses the deputy, who also says that no hypothesis is excluded.

The four men in the group were killed. Their identities have not been disclosed.

Police officer’s version

The defense of the police officer claims that he went to the house of his ex-girlfriend. Since he did not find her there, he went to the apartment of a friend of the woman, where a party was in progress.

According to the lawyer Roger Lopes da Silva, participants of the event would not have liked the presence of the policeman and would have attacked him. The man fled the apartment and hid in the pizzeria, the first place he found open, where he was eventually found by the group, he said.

“The guys went after him and tried to attack him, even though he warned the group that he was a police officer and armed, and to stay away. He was cornered,” the lawyer says.

Lopes da Silva says that the group threatened the police officer, who repeated that he was a police officer. The two women who were at the scene were not shot.

“If the four men in this group had gotten to him, any self-defense would have become impossible,” the lawyer claims.

The representative of the police officer states that his client even checked if any of those shot were still alive. When the police arrived, the officer was taken into custody accompanied by the lawyer.

The military police officer is stationed at the 20th Battalion in Porto Alegre. According to the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ivens Giuliano Campos dos Santos, the officer was off duty.