Violent Attacks in Rio, Brasília and Ceará Prompt Arrests and Active Probes

Overview

• The Rio attack by jiu-jítsu practitioner Lucas Portela invaded apartments on Thursday, Nov. 5 and left an 81-year-old woman with cranial trauma and another resident seriously beaten.
• Portela was initially released by the Central de Flagrantes but was later located, taken to an audiencia de custódia and had temporary detention converted to preventive detention at Presídio José Frederico Marques while the 18ª DP investigates charges that include attempted feminicide, threat, invasion of domicile and resistance.
• Police and municipal guards say Portela resisted arrest, tried to seize an officer’s gun and was shot in both legs before being tasered and restrained, a sequence now central to inquiries about on-scene use of force and first-response procedures.
• In Brasília a military policeman was arrested after opening fire at a group leaving a party early on Nov. 8, killing a 26-year-old woman and wounding four others in an episode investigators say was driven by jealousy and that is being treated as homicide and attempted feminicide.
• In Ceará security-camera footage shows the ambush that killed ex-subtenente Romildo Freitas da Rocha and police say he had received threats from the Comando Vermelho, a development that highlights organized-crime risks and is under active investigation by the local Civil Police.