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Marielle Franco, councillor and police critic, shot dead in targeted killing in Rio Marielle Franco, councillor and police critic, shot dead in targeted killing in Rio
(about 9 hours later)
A city council member and her driver have been shot dead by two attackers on a downtown street in Rio de Janeiro in what appeared to be a targeted assassination. Protests are planned across Brazil after a popular Rio city councillor and her driver were shot dead by two men in what appears to have been a targeted assassination.
Richard Nunes, Rio’s head of public security, said there would be a “full investigation” into the killing of council member Marielle Franco and her driver, which came despite the military taking charge of policing the city last month after a surge in violence. Marielle Franco was a groundbreaking politician who had become a voice for disadvantaged people in the teeming favelas that are home to almost one-quarter of Rio de Janeiro’s population, where grinding poverty, police brutality and shootouts with drug gangs are routine.
Two police officials told Associated Press that two men in a car fired nine shots into the vehicle carrying the popular 38-year-old councillor and her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes. A press officer in the back seat was injured, but survived, the officials said. Richard Nunes, Rio’s head of public security, said there would be a “full investigation” into the deaths, which came despite the military taking charge of policing the city last month after a surge in violence.
Both officials said it appeared Franco was targeted. Two police officials told Associated Press that two men in a car fired nine shots into the vehicle carrying Franco and her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes. A press officer in the back seat was injured, but survived, the officials said. Both officials said it appeared Franco was targeted.
Franco was a black woman who defied the odds of Rio politics to win the fifth highest vote count among council members when she was elected in 2016. She was an expert on police violence and on Saturday accused officers of being overly aggressive in searching residents of gang-controlled shantytowns. Franco was a black woman who defied the odds of Rio politics to win the fifth highest vote count among council members when she was elected in 2016. She was an expert on police violence and had recently accused officers of being overly aggressive in searching residents of gang-controlled shantytowns. A member of a leftist party, Franco was also known for her social work in slums. She was in her first term in office.
A member of a leftist party, Franco was also known for her social work in slums. She was in her first term in office. Her party called for a march on Friday to protest against violence in Rio. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the killings, while friends, colleagues and politicians paid tribute to her.
One of Franco’s last posts on Twitter called attention to police violence. Daiene Mendes, 28, a journalism student and an activist from the Complexo do Alemão favela, said: “More than a friend, Marielle was a symbol of our biggest conquests. A woman like us, black, from the favela, who had a lot of strength to face the institutional challenges of the politics that always kept us distant.”
“Another homicide of a young man that could be credited to the police. Matheus Melo was leaving church when he was killed. How many others will have to die for this war to end?” she wrote. Marcelo Freixo, a state legislature deputy from Franco’s Socialism and Liberty party, said he went to the crime scene in the Estácio area as soon as he heard that his friend had been killed.
Brazil’s public security minister, Raul Jungmann, said federal police would help investigate her killing. “The scene is clearly of an execution,” he said. “The shots were all directed at her. They were all from a professional.”
On 16 February, Brazil’s federal government put the military in charge of Rio’s local police amid a spike in violence. So far there are no indications of improvement in security in the city. Brazil’s former president Dilma Rousseff described Franco as a “tireless social warrior”. “Sad days for a country where a human rights defender is brutally murdered,” she said in statement.
Redes da Maré, a non-profit group based in the favela where Franco grew up, described the killing as “an irreparable loss”.
Ricardo Ismael, Franco’s teacher and course tutor for a social sciences degree she took at Rio’s Pontifical Catholic University, said Brazil had lost a capable politician at a time when it desperately needs political renovation.
“She had a very promising future,” he said. “She was already standing out in terms of debate, leadership capacity and intellect.”
In February, the state of Rio was placed under a “federal intervention” that put Gen Walter Braga Netto in charge of public security and has seen soldiers carrying out operations in gang-run favelas in a controversial attempt to curb rising crime.
On Thursday, the government said Brazil’s new public security minister, Raul Jungmann, had spoken to Netto and made Brazil’s Federal Police agency available to work on the investigation.
One of Franco’s final posts on Twitter called attention to police violence. “Another homicide of a young man that could be credited to the police. Matheus Melo was leaving church when he was killed. How many others will have to die for this war to end?” she wrote.
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