Former Rio de Janeiro City Councilman Zico Bacana, a witness in the investigation into the murder of former councilwoman Marielle Franco in 2018

Brasilia, Aug 8 (RHC) Former Rio de Janeiro City Councilman Zico Bacana, a witness in the investigation into the murder of former councilwoman Marielle Franco in 2018, was shot dead Monday at a bakery in the Brazilian city.

Bacana was killed in the north zone of the Carioca capital, where he was shot in the head and was rescued at the Albert Schweitzer Municipal Hospital, but did not resist. His brother, Jorge Tavares, was also shot and taken to the Carlos Chagas health center, but also died.

In 2018, Bacana was heard as a witness in the Marielle case, but there was no indication of his involvement in the homicide.

He presented himself as a paratrooper and military policeman. He was investigated by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the militias and suffered an assassination attempt in November 2020, also in the northern zone of the capital.

Franco, of the Socialism and Liberty Party, and his driver Anderson Gomes were killed in a central area of Rio on the night of March 14, 2018. Thirteen shots from a high-precision HK MP5 submachine gun, used only by elite police forces, hit the vehicle in which they were traveling.

On July 24, the Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, stated that the tip-off by former police officer Élcio Queiroz had boosted the investigation into the attack. As a result of the tip-off, the Federal Police (PF) carried out the so-called Operation Élpis and arrested Mawwell Simões Corrêa, one of the perpetrators of the crime.

Dino explained that a joint action of the PF, the Federal Criminal Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rio de Janeiro culminated in the indictment of Queiroz." A few years ago this investigation revolved around these two characters, Roni Lessa and Élcio Queiros (both prisoners), who made a judicially homologated rewarded denunciation and resulted in the operation in Rio de Janeiro", ratified the minister.

Queiroz revealed the participation of a third individual, Simões Corrêa, and confirmed the participation of him and ex-cop Lessa in the murder.

"With this, we have, from the point of view of the PF and the other participants in the investigation, the confirmation of everything that happened in the execution of the crime," Dino emphasized.

In the investigation report, Lessa is pointed out as the shooter of the submachine gun and would be in the back seat of the car that harassed the councilwoman's car. Queiroz was driving the vehicle used to pursue the victims. More than five years after the murder, the question: "Who ordered the killing of Marielle Franco?" remains unanswered (Source: Prensa Latina).