São Paulo police officer shoots woman with a knife and is arrested

In October, a military police officer in the Brazilian city of São Paulo shot a woman holding a knife on the street. The incident was caught on camera, and the officer who fired was detained: in the view of the police command, he responded disproportionately to the threat.

According to local media, it all began with an argument between the woman, Camila Pereira da Silva, a mother of two young daughters, and her former partner. The man said he felt his life was threatened because she was menacing him with a knife. Noticing police officers patrolling on motorcycles, he asked them to intervene.

The woman meanwhile came closer and walked resolutely toward the patrol, that is, toward her ex-partner, holding the knife. The officers backed away and several times told the visibly agitated woman to drop the knife and stop. She did not comply.

The officer who fired, André Coelho Mashimu da Costa, explained that while retreating he backed into a parked truck, and heavy traffic on the street limited his path of retreat. So he fired.

The commander of São Paulo's military police, João Murgolo, stated: “At the moment of the shot, the victim was not attacking either of the officers. She was not striking, not raising her hand and not waving it.” According to him, the mere movement of a person with a knife, without a threatening gesture and from a distance of several meters, is not in itself immediate aggression justifying the use of lethal force.

The officer was later released: for now he is being transferred to administrative work, barred from any activity that requires carrying a firearm. He must stay at his place of residence and cannot leave the city for more than eight days without a court's permission.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz