A federal court has decided that Fabiano Menacho Ferreira, the federal highway police officer accused of killing 3-year-old Heloisa dos Santos Silva in Arco Metropolitano, will be sent to a popular jury. The decision of Rio de Janeiro’s First Federal Criminal Court concluded the first stage of the trial and sentenced the deputy. Criminal proceedings against two other agents on the same patrol were blocked.
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Prosecutor Eduardo Benones, coordinator of the External Control Center for Policing, said police officer Fabiano Menacho fired three shots that night in the plaza where Eloisa was staying with her sister, aunt, father and stepmother. The girl was shot in the back of the head with a .556 rifle and died several days after being hospitalized.
At around 8:30 p.m. on the holiday of September 7, Heloisa was on her way back from a trip to her grandmother’s house in Itaguay, accompanied by her parents Willian de Sousa and Alana dos Santos Silva, her sister Alice dos Santos Silva (8 years old), and her aunt Leila Fernanda dos Santos Misael, as they passed by the Arco Metropolitano in Seropedica. According to the complaint filed by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the PRF vehicle was positioned vertically on the highway with its headlights and interior lights turned off. His father would have recognized the car by its blue and yellow color. Willian’s statement said the PRF car, a Peugeot 207, “suddenly appeared within view of the rear-view mirror a few meters from the rear of the vehicle”.
According to the complaint, the victim’s car was effectively parked on the side of the road when PRF members “opened fire with long-range, large-caliber weapons” at the Peugeot. In a statement to the MPF, Heloisa’s father described what happened after the shooting:
A specialized investigation conducted by federal police confirmed that the projectile fragments found in the car and the victim’s body matched the caliber of the weapon used by the defendant responsible for the shooting. The Federal Ministry of Public Affairs also claimed that there had been an attempted murder on another passenger, but that he had only died “due to circumstances beyond the control of the investigators.”
“I raised my hand and everyone came out and my young child was the only one left in the car. I was in shock and despair.”
Highway police officers claimed to have fired at the tires, but this theory was ruled out as there were no gunshot marks on the tires. One of the officers even got behind the wheel of Willian’s car to help the child. Fabiano’s defense argued that the officer fired in presumed self-defense because he believed he was being attacked, but that claim was rejected.
The court therefore decided that Fabiano Menacho Ferreira should be tried in a jury court on charges of completed murder, four counts of attempted murder and procedural fraud. All of this is due to significant competition.
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