Gabriel Silva da Conceição Júnior, 10 years old, died from a gunshot wound last Sunday (23) during a Military Police operation in Lauro de Freitas, in the metropolitan region of Salvador, Bahia. The boy was treated at the State General Hospital, but did not resist his injuries, according to the Civil Police.
Before the shooting, the child was sitting in front of the house, playing with two other classmates and, upon hearing the shots, ran inside the house crying, already shot in the neck, according to the victim’s family.
In a note, the Civil Police of Bahia said that the first steps to investigate the case were carried out by the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection, and a territorial unit will continue with the investigation of the case. The police confirmed that the boy was hit near his residence, which is in the Portão neighborhood, in Lauro de Freitas.
The Bahia Military Police reported that the shots occurred after the 52nd Independent Company (CIPM), during a patrol on Sunday afternoon, came across an individual “in a suspicious attitude who, in view of the approach of the garrisons, started shooting at the police”, receiving support from four other suspects in the sequence. The individuals fled, according to police.
“The Military Police deeply regrets the death of Gabriel Silva da Conceição Júnior, 10 years old, and sympathizes with the child’s relatives”, said the PM, adding that those involved in the police action are available to the Civil Police to be heard and provide clarification.
Family members, friends and residents of the region held a protest on Monday afternoon (24), asking for justice and charging the authorities. In the act, demonstrators blocked the two lanes of the BA-099, towards Salvador and Abrantes.
According to the Bahian PM, there was a clash between some demonstrators and the police. The protest ended around 8:30 pm, with no reports of detainees or injuries, according to the PM.
Community leader says there is “constancy in truculence” in police actions
A CNN , Ney Lázaro, an activist and community leader in Portão, said he was with the victim’s family from the first minutes after Gabriel’s death. According to him, the actions of the Military Police are seen as “routine barbarities” in the metropolitan region of Salvador.
“We still haven’t even dried the tears of the last case that occurred three months ago in which a family man, carpenter and evangelical was shot in the back by the Military Police as he left his carpentry shop on a Saturday, at 2 pm”, he said.
“Now, on Sunday, at 4 pm, once again they enter a street in the neighborhood at high speed, shooting. As a result of the action, one more innocent person was killed by them, and now he was a ten-year-old child, a soccer player and loved by the whole community”, said Lázaro.
*Under the supervision of Vinicius Bernardes
Source: CNN Brasil
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