The family of Gabriel Renan da Silva Soares, a 26-year-old black young man, claims that he was killed by an off-duty military police officer in a supermarket in the south of São Paulo even without offering any threat to anyone.
According to the incident report, Rafael was shot 11 times last Sunday night (3), after trying to steal some cleaning products from an Oxxo market, on Avenida Cupecê, in the Jardim Prudência neighborhood.
In the bulletin, military police officer Vinicius de Lima Britto, who was off duty at the time, states that the young man mentioned that he was armed and that was why he had to shoot him.
However, the family disputes this version and claims that Gabriel was a drug user, was not armed and committed a robbery without offering any violence or serious threat.
In conversation with the CNN lawyer Fátima Taddeo, who is Gabriel’s aunt, said that the young man, who would have turned 27 tomorrow (7), was going through a difficult period due to drug addiction.
According to her, Gabriel was working at the time, but was facing problems caused by the use of the drug K2, a type of synthetic marijuana with high destructive potential.
The family does not deny that Gabriel was stealing from the market, and claims that images prove that he had taken two cleaning products and hidden them in his blouse. According to the family’s report, Gabriel was already leaving the market, without having approached anyone, when he was hit in the back by shots fired by the police officer.
A video recorded by security cameras near the location shows the moment Gabriel leaves the market. Soon after, you can see him falling to the ground. See below .
However, the version contained in the police report is different.
According to the document, the PM reported that he was shopping at the market when he saw Gabriel stealing some products. When questioning him, the young man allegedly stated that he was armed and had put his hand inside his shirt, which is why the agent allegedly shot him while he was still inside the place.
The market employee stated that the shots were fired outside. He said that Gabriel entered the market, went to the cleaning section, grabbed four to five products and tried to run, but fell to the ground in the parking lot after slipping.
Then, the PM would have gone outside the market to find out what was happening. Still according to the employee’s version, Gabriel stood up and put his hand in the pocket of his blouse, “mentioning that he was armed.” At this moment, the police officer would have fired the first shots.
After that, according to the attendant, the young man walked towards the sidewalk, but returned with his hand still on his shirt and stated: “don’t mess with me, I’m armed, I don’t want anything that’s yours”. The police officer then shot more times.
According to forensics, 11 puncture wounds were found on Gabriel’s body: three on the chest, two on the left hand, one on the left forearm, three on the right forearm, one on the right ear and one on the face.
“Theft is a crime that is committed without violence or serious threat. He wasn’t armed, he wasn’t violent. For it to be a robbery, as stated in the report, he should have been armed, threatened and violent, that wasn’t it. Self-defense is not justified when the person is not offering a threat. Gabriel’s life was worth two cleaning products”, declared Fátima.
Fátima is the wife of rapper Eduardo Taddeo, from the group Facção Central. On social media, he also criticized the action and stated that his nephew was murdered at the scene. “Another young black man from the periphery exterminated,” he declared.
In a statement, the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) stated that the case was registered as resistance, death resulting from police intervention and attempted robbery by the Homicide Division of the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP).
“Expert examinations were requested from the Criminalistics Institute (IC) and Legal Medical Institute (IML), whose reports are in progress and, once completed, will be forwarded to the police authority for analysis. Other steps are taken to clarify the facts”, adds the note.
The Oxxo market regretted what happened. “Oxxo bases its actions on respect for people and deeply regrets what happened on the night of November 3rd, at the Avenida Cupecê unit, between two customers. The network informs that its collaborators immediately contacted the authorities and that the images from the security system are available to the competent bodies in order to contribute to the investigation.”
This content was originally published in Family accuses PM of executing young black man in SP market on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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