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Brazil police may be to blame for 35 execution-style killings over weekend
Source: The Guardian
Brazil police may be to blame for 35 execution-style killings over weekend
Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
Wednesday 22 July 2015 16.49 BST
Detectives in Manaus are investigating whether police death squads or criminal gangs were involved in a rash of execution-style killings that left 35 people dead in just three days.
As the authorities flooded the streets with officers to reassure a nervous public, city officials were forced to admit that the police themselves may have been responsible for the worst weekend of homicide in recent memory.
Detectives suspect the wave of killings may have been sparked by the murder of military police sergeant Afonso Camacho Dia, who was shot and robbed as he left a bank with more than £10,000 ($15,631.95) in cash on Friday.
This was followed on Friday evening and Saturday with a burst of almost two dozen executions by gunmen wearing balaclavas and riding motorcycles. By Monday morning, 35 people had been shot and killed. Eight of them had a criminal record.
A alternative hypothesis links the killings to the murder in prison of a senior gang leader. Police chiefs said they were exploring both possibilities.
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Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
Wednesday 22 July 2015 16.49 BST
Detectives in Manaus are investigating whether police death squads or criminal gangs were involved in a rash of execution-style killings that left 35 people dead in just three days.
As the authorities flooded the streets with officers to reassure a nervous public, city officials were forced to admit that the police themselves may have been responsible for the worst weekend of homicide in recent memory.
Detectives suspect the wave of killings may have been sparked by the murder of military police sergeant Afonso Camacho Dia, who was shot and robbed as he left a bank with more than £10,000 ($15,631.95) in cash on Friday.
This was followed on Friday evening and Saturday with a burst of almost two dozen executions by gunmen wearing balaclavas and riding motorcycles. By Monday morning, 35 people had been shot and killed. Eight of them had a criminal record.
A alternative hypothesis links the killings to the murder in prison of a senior gang leader. Police chiefs said they were exploring both possibilities.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/22/manaus-brazil-homicides-amazon
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