The São Paulo State Police ombudsman, Claudio Aparecido da Silva, criticized the presence of military police officers at the burial of a 4-year-old boy, killed during military police operation on Tuesday night (5), at Morro São Bento, in Santos, on the coast of São Paulo. The funeral took place on Thursday morning (7).
Ryan da Silva Andrade Santos was playing with other children on the sidewalk in front of his cousin’s house when he was shot. According to the Military Police (PM) spokesman himself, “probably [o disparo] It came from a police officer’s gun.” The boy’s father, Leonel Andrade Santos, was one of the 56 killed during Operation Verão, carried out at the beginning of this year.
“Here in the state of São Paulo, it has become government policy to have police attend the wake of people who die at the hands of the police, intimidate people and do everything you followed. You followed the procession, saw the behavior of the police, there was a police vehicle from the battalion here at the cemetery”, said the ombudsman, present at the boy’s funeral, to the press at the scene.
“It’s shameful, it’s the height of lack of respect for people’s fundamental rights. In this state, will there no longer be a funeral ceremony? Does no one have the right to watch over and say goodbye to their loved ones anymore? Anyone who isn’t appalled by the death of a 4-year-old child in these conditions that happened here, I’m sorry, they’re not people,” he added.
The police also hit two minors in the same operation on Tuesday. Gregory Ribeiro Vasconcelos, 17 years old, died at the scene and the other teenager, aged 15, was rescued, underwent surgery and is not at risk of death.
At the moment the ombudsman was speaking to the press, police officers from the Tactical Force who were at the entrance to the cemetery began approaching a young man. The ombudsman, accompanied by journalists and photographers, approached the police officers and began to report that the agents were not using body cameras.
“You kill a 4-year-old person. Then he circulates at the cemetery gates, falling into the middle of the procession. I didn’t want to let the procession leave, it stopped at the cemetery gate,” Silva told the police officers who were approaching him. State deputies Paula Nunes and Ediane Maria were also present; the councilor of Santos Débora Camilo; in addition to Débora Maria dos Santos, coordinator of the Mothers of May Movement.
On the phone with the general commander of the Military Police, Colonel Cassio Araújo de Freitas, the ombudsman reported, during the incident, that the police officers were making an abusive approach and that they were not using body cameras at that time. “He approached the boy, slapped the boy on the head, attacked the boy, now he is saying he is going to seize the boy’s motorcycle.”
In a statement, the Public Security Secretariat of the State of São Paulo informed that it will analyze the complaints and that preventive and overt policing has been reinforced in the region since last Tuesday.
Eleven shots
Another case that raises questions about the actions of the São Paulo Military Police took place in the city of São Paulo. A black man was killed by an off-duty police officer, after trying to steal two cleaning products from a minimarket, last Sunday (3), in the south zone of the capital of São Paulo.
Images from surveillance cameras show the boy being shot in the back by the military police officer. According to the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat, expert examinations were requested, the reports of which are in progress, and the police will investigate all the circumstances of the events.
The boy is the nephew of rapper Eduardo Taddeo, who was part of the group Facção Central. He reported the case in a social media post.
*Márcio Garoni and Vanessa Casalino, from TV Brasil
