A military police officer became a defendant for the death of an elderly woman during an operation in Morro do Turano, in the North Zone of Rio, in June 2023.
Severina da Silva Nunes, 63, and a neighbor left the house and stopped at a bar to have coffee. Minutes later, they heard the sounds of gunshots, and one of the bullets hit the elderly woman in the shoulder. She was taken to the Souza Aguiar Municipal Hospital, in the Center, but did not survive.
At the time, police officer Wesley Pereira de Lima Nascimento was assigned to the Turano Police Pacifying Unit (UPP).
The complaint from the Public Ministry of Rio (MPRJ) was distributed, on Thursday (25), to the IV Jury Court of the Capital.
In the document, prosecutor Alexandre Themístocles highlights that the police officer placed his rifle through the window of the vehicle and, “even in the absence of any situation of risk to the life or physical integrity of the police officers or third parties, in an unreasonable and disproportionate manner, opened fire towards the top of the hill.”
The prosecutor also says that the agent knew that there were innocent people in the area and asked for the suspension of the PM’s duties, which was accepted by the Court.
The bullet fragments also hit Kecia Souza Silva, 30, the elderly woman’s neighbor. Kecia, who was pregnant, was injured in the head but survived. The case relating to this crime was forwarded to the Military Justice Audit.
In a statement released at the time, the PM reported that UPP Turano teams were attacked by armed criminals during policing in the community. The PM also said that it ordered the initiation of a procedure to investigate the circumstances of Severina’s death.
Tags: Military police officer defendant death elderly woman operation Morro Turano Rio Janeiro
