A 45-year-old man was shot dead in a car, in front of an early childhood education unit, on Monday morning (4), in Indaial, in Vale do Itajaí (SC). The shooting victim had police records in the state of Amazonas for drug trafficking and homicide, and had an active arrest warrant.
According to the Santa Catarina Civil Police (PC-SC), the crime occurred moments after the shooting victim's wife got out of the car, with her son, to leave him at daycare. Two men who were in another vehicle got out of the car and shot. The victim was hit by around 16 gunshots.
Two other people, a mother and a child, who were not related to the victim, were also injured. In a statement, the Indaial Department of Education reported that the woman and child were passing by the place at the time of the incident and were accidentally hit by gunfire, the mother with a shot in the leg and the child grazed by the shrapnel.
Volunteer Firefighters and Samu were on site to provide first aid. The two victims were taken to Beatriz Ramos Hospital and are not at risk of death, according to the secretariat.
The shots were recorded on Montevideo Street, in the Tapajós neighborhood, in front of the Hilário Buzzarello Early Childhood Education Unit. The Civil Police traveled to the scene of the events, together with the Scientific Police, where examinations of the crime were carried out and witnesses were interviewed at the police station.
The Indaial Department of Education reiterated, in a statement, that what happened was a targeted crime unrelated to the educational environment. The facts would be related to an alleged settlement of accounts by a drug gang.
Lieutenant Mário Elias, who was at the scene, also highlighted that what happened has no correlation with attacks on schools. “It is a fact that naturally already generates uneasiness, but just to clarify and make it very clear that it has nothing to do with the school environment”, said the lieutenant.
The Civil Police are taking steps to ensure that the perpetrators are identified and held duly responsible for the crime. The vehicle used in the crime has already been recovered and will be examined in the coming hours.
The Department of Education reported that it has a team of psychologists at the Early Childhood Education Unit for assistance.
Relationship with crime
The Civil Police of Amazonas (PC-AM) reported that Marcos Gama Barroso, known as “Marcola”, had an arrest warrant for the crime of qualified homicide, decreed on December 15, 2023. He was then considered a fugitive from justice since the issuance of the court order.
In a statement, the Military Police of Santa Catarina stated that Marcos Gama had police records in the State of Amazonas for drug trafficking and homicide, in addition to an active arrest warrant. He was born in the state of Amazonas.
According to delegate Filipe Martins, responsible for the case, the victim had ties to a criminal organization. Preliminary information indicates that the man had been receiving death threats for some time for having 'switched' criminal organizations, which would have displeased the rival group. Since then, the victim had been persecuted by the criminal group.
Therefore, according to the delegate, to outwit the criminal group that threatened him, the man, accompanied by his wife and son, decided to live in Santa Catarina and, over the last few years, he has lived in several cities.
“And, apparently, the information we have is that he had even changed factions there and that today's incident was related to that past”, said Lieutenant Mário Elias, who was at the scene of the shooting.
*Under the supervision of André Rigue
Source: CNN Brasil
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