The reenactment of the murder of the eight-time jiu-jitsu world champion Leandro Lo will be made this Wednesday (31), according to information from the suspect’s defense, military police officer Henrique Otávio de Oliveira Velozo.
Leandro Lo was shot in the head during a show at Clube Sírio, in Sao Paulo, in the early morning of the 7th of August.
According to witnesses, the jiu-jitsu fighter was with five friends at the club, when the policeman, who also practices martial arts, approached and began to provoke the group, taking the drinks that were on the table. Leandro reacted and asked him to leave the place.
According to the lawyer for the fighter’s family, Ivã Siqueira Júnior, during the discussion, the fighter was “cheated” by the PM, which is why he immobilized him with jiu-jitsu techniques. After walking away, the officer pulled out a gun and fired.
Also according to the defender, witnesses reported that the aggressor would have kicked Leandro twice in the head, who was already unconscious on the ground.
The athlete was rescued and taken to Arthur Saboya Municipal Hospital, in Jabaquara, in the south of São Paulo, but he couldn’t resist and was declared brain dead on Sunday morning (7).
After shooting and killing the jiu-jitsu world champion, Velozo went to a nightclub, consumed drinks and left accompanied by a woman, whom he took to a motel in the capital of São Paulo.
THE CNN the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) stated that the Civil Police has not yet confirmed a date for the reconstitution.
Velozo is in preventive detention
The police ordered the preventive detention of the PM, who presented himself to the Military Police Internal Affairs on the same day, being taken to a police station to give a statement.
After a custody hearing, on August 8, the Justice decided to maintain the temporary detention of 30 days.
The agent was then sent to the Romão Gomes Military Prison, in São Paulo, where he remains in prison.
According to the SSP, the PM was indicted for murder for a futile motive. The case remains under investigation at the 16th DP, in Vila Clementino.
On August 15, the Government of São Paulo suspended the payment of salary to the military police officer, who is the subject of a disciplinary process at the institution.
The defense points out that the policeman acted defensively, after being attacked by the fighter, who was in the company of five other fighters.
The chief delegate of the 16th DP, José Eduardo Jorge, who is conducting the investigation of the case, however, said that the conclusion on whether or not there was self-defense will be under the responsibility of the Justice, but, apparently, that was not what it happened.
“He [Henrique] wasn’t getting beat up, he was just immobilized [por Leandro] and friends said to let it go. At that, Leandro got up and sat on the chair, then Henrique got up, turned around and killed the guy. It’s a qualified homicide, futile motive, he had no motive to kill, he didn’t defend himself. Legitimate defense is when you are being beaten, you pick up an instrument and hit it, but that is execution”, the delegate told the police. CNN .
Historic
In 2021, Velozo was sentenced to nine months in open prison after he got involved in a disagreement at a nightclub. The case happened in 2017.
At the time, the Military Police were called after the agent got involved in a fight. According to the sentence, he was “nervous and excited, making the work of the military difficult”. At one point during the approach, he punched one of the agents in the arm and tried to hit him in the face.
Leandro Lo was 33 years old and, in addition to eight world championships, he was champion in the South American tournaments, the World Cup and the Pan American, Brazilian and European championships.
(Posted by Júlia Vieira, from CNN)
Source: CNN Brasil
