RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Two Brazilian police officers have been arrested in Rio de Janeiro after security camera footage showed them shooting at two youths on a motorbike before taking them in a car. The two men later appeared dead.
Saturday’s incident in Rio’s poor Belford Roxo neighborhood sheds new light on the aggressive tactics of Brazilian police, who critics say often target poor young blacks in deadly raids.
Critics say Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a former far-right army captain, has allowed police to be more aggressive than ever, offering his full support to get criminals out of the country’s slums. Bolsonaro has said that “criminals should die like cockroaches.” here
Rio’s military police said in a statement: “As soon as (we) became aware of the facts, all relevant measures were taken immediately.”
The two officers, he added, “were arrested and taken to the Rio de Janeiro military police prison unit.” His weapons were confiscated and have been interrogated.
In the video, which aired for the first time on the Brazilian news program Fantastico on Sunday, a motorcycle carrying two skinny men around the corner, passing in front of police. As he passes, one of the officers opens fire on the men and they both fall off the bicycle.
Police move them off the road and, according to images from another camera, handcuff them as they stand against a wall. They then put them in the back of the car while one of the cops pulled his motorcycle away.
The two men, identified by local media as 20-year-old Edson Arguinez Junior and 18-year-old Jordan Luiz Natividade, were later found dead, far from the scene of the arrest.
According to Fantastico, the two police officers did not mention the shots against the motorcycle. They said they released the two men shortly after taking them to the car, after realizing there were no problems with them or their bike.
Reports from Gabriel Stargardter to Rio de Janeiro; Edited by Matthew Lewis