Police target suspects involved in killing of Rio councilor

Agents from the Homicide Division of Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police on Thursday (Dec. 13) are serving the first arrest and detention warrants against the suspects of involvement in the killing of Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes.

Police Commissioner Giniton Lages, spearheading the probes, reported that the operation covers districts in Rio, as well as the cities of Angra dos Reis, Nova Iguaçu, Petrópolis, and also outside of the state, in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais.

The crackdown, Lages said, stems from inquiries parallel to the main probes on the Franco and Anderson case. Since the investigation started, the Homicide Unit has conducted a number of operations to check information from anonymous sources.

Giniton Lages advocated “the secrecy of ongoing probes, as it is the main guarantee that the perpetrators and those who ordered the crimes are reached and investigated.”

Crime

City Councilor Marielle Franco was murdered along with her driver Anderson Gomes on the night of March 14 this year in the district of Estácio, in downtown Rio de Janeiro. They were shot dead on their way home to Tijuca, after attending an event at Casa das Pretas, in Lapa. Franco was inside the car with her driver, who was also killed, and an adviser. The shots were fired from another vehicle.

Elected with 46.6 thousand votes—the fifth highest vote count for a city councilor in the 2016 elections—Marielle Franco was serving her first tenure. Originally from the favela of Maré, in northern Rio, she was a 38-year-old sociologist with a master’s degree in Public Administration, in addition to being a human rights activist.