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News > Brazil

Police Bullet Kills 8-Year-Old Girl in Rio de Janeiro

  • Photo of late Agatha Felix, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2019.

    Photo of late Agatha Felix, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2019. | Photo: Twitter/ @LemusteleSUR

Published 21 September 2019
Opinion

Agatha Felix was traveling towards her home when she was hit by a bullet fired by a "Pacifying Police" officer.

The security policy implemented by Wilson Witzel, the Governor of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), brought about a new victim: an 8-year-old Afro-Brazilian girl, Agatha Felix, who lived in Fazendinha, a poor neighborhood located at the Complexo do Alemao, was hit by a military police bullet on Friday night and died on Saturday morning.

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According to witness reports, Agatha was traveling inside a van to her home when she was hit by a bullet fired by a Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) officer, who was shooting at a motorcyclist considered "suspect." Few minutes later, Agatha died while she was treated at Getulio Vargas State Hospital, which is in the northern side of the city.

"We want information on who shot and killed an innocent, intelligent, brainy and obedient girl," Ailton Felix, Agatha's grandfather said at the hospital door.

"Where are the cops who did this? They speak through weapons. Those who are crying now are not those from ​​​​​​​the families of the governor, the mayor or the police. My family is criying. Although they apologize tomorrow, they will not bring back to my granddaughter.”

Military police said an UPP team had been attacked on Friday night by criminals at Fazendinha, where there was an exchange of gunfire. The authorities also indicated that they will open an investigation to clarify what happened.​​​​​​​

Against violence at the Favelas. Black lives matter! It's Witzel's fault!

Although the mainstream media tried to minimize the event, Rio de Janeiro woke up shocked by the death of a girl whose images circulated quickly through social networks.

Dwellers in the city's slums called for citizen protest through the #It'sWitzel'sfault, a phrase which refers to a governor whose only political security, the locals say, seems to be indiscriminate repression of the poor.

“I just received confirmation that the girl Agatha Vitoria Felix did not resist the injuries and died," human rights defend Rene Silva tweeted.

"We cannot allow these sort of things to become normal. Enough, people! Black lives matter! It's Witzel's fault!"

"Rio's governor said nothing about Agatha's death," teleSUR journalist Nacho Lemus reported from the ground and recalled that Wilson Witzel celebrated the murder of a kidnapper after he turned himself in to the police.​​​​​​​

This former judge, who is currently an important ally of the far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, flaunted his ideology on May when he tweeted a video in which he appears inside a police helicopter that was firing at favelas.

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