Sao Paulo police kill 14 people in operation during investigation into officer’s death

2023-08-02 04:26:01

SAO PAULO (AP) — The death toll related to an ongoing operation in the state of Sao Paulo rose to 14 Tuesday, as police officers hunt down the people they blame for the death of an agent from an elite group the last week. The massive operation has raised concerns regarding the use of deadly force by police.

The governor of Sao Paulo Tarcisio de Freitas, who on Monday had reported the deaths of 10 people, announced the updated balance on Tuesday. The G1 news portal said that the adjusted figures make the operation the deadliest in the most populous and richest state in the country since 2006.

De Freitas, a former minister under right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and seen by many politicians as his possible heir, said he is proud of the police officers involved in the operation, which is scheduled to end on August 28. The operation also seeks the arrest of those responsible for the death of elite agent Patrick Bastos Reis, who was shot dead on Thursday.

“Those who decided to turn themselves in were detained,” the governor said when asked regarding the high number of people killed in alleged clashes with the police, most of them in the coastal city of Guarujá, in the south of the state.

Bolsonaro’s successful 2018 presidential campaign included a proposal to give police carte blanche to take down criminals.

Sao Paulo police already have under arrest a man they accuse of murdering Reis. Edickson David da Silva said on his social media channels before he was arrested that De Freitas should “stop the killings” during his searches. The Brazilian press reported that some of his neighbors in Guarujá claimed that they were tortured by agents during the operation, acts that the police deny.

TV Globo said the agent died when he and other police officers were looking for suspects in the shooting deaths of two retired police officers in Guarujá.

1690951100
#Sao #Paulo #police #kill #people #operation #investigation #officers #death