Covid-19 is again a pretext for more incident between law enforcement officers and a citizen, involving shots and resulting in the death of the latter.
This time the stage of events was Bairro Palanca. João was going to his place of work, a field near the neighborhood where he washed cars. According to witnesses, quoted by OPaís, he was surprised by agents of the National Police questioning him about the lack of a protective mask, which he would not be wearing.
Without a mask, the Angolan was allegedly "punished" by the authorities and forced to somersault as a punishment. Refusing, he fled. The agents then started a chase process by firing several shots into the air.
The final part of this narrative is not yet clear. It is known that João was later found on the ground, losing his life hours later at the Hospital dos Cajueiros, municipality of Cazenga.
In a statement, the Directorate of Institutional Communication and Press of the National Police of Angola says that it learned of the situation, but denies the involvement of agents in the death of the citizen.
“The fact occurred around 10 am, at the jurisdictional perimeter of the Training Center for Dressage of Cavalry and Cinotechnics, where the agents of that body exercised the patrol service, when, afterwards, they approached the concerned citizen, who showed resistance” says the PN.
Also according to the report, the agents fired a shot into the air after the young man had shown resistance and taking into account the frequent records of armed robberies in the area. According to this version, contrary to the witnesses, João was able to 'escape' having been found hours later by the same patrol, passed out.
The statement said that the Integrated Public Security Center was activated, which took the Angolan to the hospital at around 12:00 pm, where he would die five hours later.
The National Police say they regret what happened, advancing that the health authorities will carry out an autopsy to determine the cause of the citizen's death, which will be disclosed in the coming days. “The agents concerned are identified and a fact-finding process has been initiated. If their involvement is proven, they will be held criminally and disciplinarily liable ”, the statement said.
