The Military Police Internal Affairs Department arrested a military police officer suspected of being the second shooter in the murder of whistleblower Vinícius Lopes Gritzbach. He was executed at São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos, on November 8 last year. 
According to the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat (SSP), the arrest was made this Tuesday (21), at the headquarters of the 20th Metropolitan Military Police Battalion, in Barueri, and the suspect would be sent to the Romão Gomes Military Prison (PMRG ).
With the new arrest, the number of people detained for involvement in the case reaches 26, including 17 police officers, five civil police officers and four other people related to the man appointed as a crime scout, who is on the run.
The case is investigated by a Task Forcewhich includes the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP) and the internal affairs bodies of the civil and military police.
Prisons
Last Thursday (16), an Internal Affairs operation had already arrested the first military police officer identified as one of the perpetrators of the shooting at Gritzbach. Images from airport security cameras show two gunmen getting out of the car and shooting.
In the same operation, 14 more PMs were arrested on suspicion of involvement with organized crime and for providing illegal security services to the whistleblower.
On the same date, the girlfriend of the man appointed as a scout for the crime was arrested by the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP), of the Civil Police, using a warrant obtained in an investigation into drug trafficking. According to the investigationthe 28-year-old woman was responsible for selling drugs in the possession of her boyfriend Kauê do Amaral Coelho, who has an arrest warrant issued and is on the run.
The following day (17), another person involved was arrested. The 22-year-old man is being investigated for having a relationship with Kauê and for being associated with drug trafficking. In another DHPP action, a PM lieutenant was arrested on Saturday (18). The police officer would be the driver of the vehicle used to carry out the crime, a black Gol, which carried the two military police officers identified by the investigation as the perpetrators of the shooting.
Mandator
The director of the São Paulo State Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP), delegate Ivalda Aleixo, reported last week that the police have two “very advanced” lines of investigation to identify the person who ordered Gritzbach’s execution. Both point to members of the PCC.
Vinícius Lopes Gritzbach, accused of money laundering and having ordered the murder of two people from the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), made a plea agreement with the Public Ministry (MP) of the State of São Paulo in March 2024. According to the prosecutor’s office , in collaborating to mitigate the sentence, the defendant cited public agents.
The content of the complaint is confidential, but, in October last year, the MP sent excerpts of the document to the Civil Police Internal Affairs Office, in which the whistleblower accuses civil police officers of extortion. On October 31, he was interviewed at the Internal Affairs Department, eight days before he was killed. Gritzbach also reported a money laundering scheme used by the PCC.
