One week after seven minors were killed and dismembered in a Rio de Janeiro favela, Brazilians are again facing another massacre of youngsters.
This time, the mass killing of six young men occurred around 8:30 pm, yesterday, in the North side of São Paulo.
Authorities say that there is evidence that the crime is part of a gang war. Witnesses reports and details of the carnage, however, suggest that the act may have been committed by the police themselves.
According to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo four men dressed in black, wearing bullet-proof vests arrived in a car and started to shoot seven youngsters – four of them teenagers – who were in front of a bar in the Parque Tietê neighborhood.
At least one witness told police that he saw a sign on the car indicating that it belonged to the Civilian Police. This information, however, was not included in the police report to which reporters had access at the 72nd police district in Vila Penteado.
None of the victims had any criminal record. All seven youngsters were taken to the emergency room at the Vila Nova Cachoeirinha hospital, but only Leandro Siqueira, a 19 year old, resisted the shots. He continues being treated in the hospital.
All the others died: Ewerton Damião Silva de Freitas, 19; Rafael Jesus da Rocha, 20; Douglas Ribeiro Francelino, 17; Francisco Itamar Lima da Silva, 17; Antonio Elias Lima da Silva, 16, and Robson de Oliveira Novaes, also 16..
Just one day before this massacre, three other youths were killed at dawn, in Favela da Paz, also in the North side of São Paulo. In that case, according to the police, parents of the victims testified that the three young men had been drafted to work for drug traffickers in the shantytown.