Brazil: Lawyer is shot dead after meeting in Campinas real estate office
Security cameras recorded the moment the victim was pulled from the establishment by two men on a motorcycle.
45-year-old lawyer Rafael Henrique Silva de Mello was shot to death after being forcibly removed from an Campinas/SP real estate property on the night of last Thursday, 27. The crime, registered by security cameras, occurred after the victim scheduled a meeting at the scene with alleged new clients, motivating a police investigation to identify the perpetrators of the murder.
According to the monitoring images, two men on a motorcycle stopped in front of the property, landed and climbed the property stairs. Following that, the suspects forced Rafael out of the building and took him to the sidewalk. The lawyer tried to resist and went into bodily struggle with the attackers, but was shot by shots before the criminals escaped on the motorcycle.
After the crime, expert examination was at the scene and collected three deformed projectiles and a .40 S&W calibre capsule. Police found that the victim’s cell phone was taken by the perpetrators. Rafael’s body was referred to the IML – Legal Medical Institute, where it was recognized by the ex-wife.
The case was registered as a homicide in the second police district of Campinas and referred to the State Department of Criminal Investigations. Oswaldo Diez Junior, director of Deinter-2 – Department of Internal Judiciary Police 2, determined the inquest to investigate the crime. Specialized teams investigate the circumstances of death, although there are no suspects identified or arrested so far.
Joined OAB since February 2019, Rafael had his own Campinas office and worked in the areas of Family Law, Direito do Consumidor and Direito Civil. It also included Comissões de Direito Civil, Direito das Famílias and Successions and Ação Social of the 3rd subsection of OAB/SP, in Campinas.
In a public note, the OAB Campinas lamented the death and stated that the initial findings indicate that the lawyer was on site because of his professional activity, having scheduled a meeting with people who presented themselves as potential clients, but who would be the perpetrators of the shooting. The subsection classified the attack as a “front to the full exercise of law and society itself” and reported that it follows the investigations with the Civil Police, awaiting a “fast and rigorous” assessment. Rafael’s wake was scheduled for this Saturday, from 8 a.m. on the Cemitério Nossa Senhora da Conceição, known as Cemitério dos Amarais, in Campinas.
Brazil: Lawyer is shot dead after meeting in Campinas real estate office
