A man attending the murder trial for his father’s killer in Brazil interrupted court proceedings to shoot the suspect half a dozen times and assault him.
Video of the attack was captured on CCTV from the courtroom in São José do Belmonte. The video shows the judges and jury scattering for cover as Cristiano Alves Terto, 27, opened fire at Franscico Cleidivaldo Mariano de Moura, 38.
It remains unclear how Terto had made it into the courtroom with a .38-caliber revolver. The attack occurred on November 29, 2023, but police only released the video on April 1, 2024.
Terto chased Moura across the courtroom and continued his assault by striking the defendant in the head. Police who were onsite chased him out of the room and eventually arrested him on suspicion of attempted murder.
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Moura survived the attack but had to go to a local hospital and then transfer to a larger facility for treatment. He has since been discharged, according to Jam Press.
Moura killed Francisco Alves on October 5, 2012. During his confession, he claimed he had been looking for a donkey that had strayed from his property when he had found Alves.
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He claimed that Alves had treated him with hostility, calling him a “filthy little thief” and demanding he leave.
He then claimed that Alves had grabbed a wooden stick and had tried to approach him, at which point Moura fired a gunshot into the air as a warning. When Alves didn’t stop, he fired another shot into the ground and eventually felt the need to defend himself.
Alves suffered a single gunshot wound to his abdomen, which sent him to the hospital. After 18 days under medical care and supervision, Alves died.
Moura fled to Salguiero, a city in northern Brazil, remaining at large for over a decade before police found and arrested him. No retrial date has been set since he was discharged from the hospital, while Terto has remained in prison since the day after the attack.
‘The jury has not been reconvened, and a new date has not been assigned yet,” the Pernambuco Court of Justice told British outlet Metro.