Marielle Franco was trying to make serious changes in Brazil. She was a popular Afro-Brazilian city council member, was killed alongside her driver Anderson Pedro Gomes by two attackers on a downtown street in Rio de Janeiro last night, The Guardian reports.
She was 38 serving her first term in office. Rio’s head of public security, Richard Nunes, says there would be a “full investigation” into the killings, despite the military’s takeover of policing in the city last month from the surge in violence.
According to Dr. Keisha-Khan Y. Perry on Twitter, Franco participated in a panel discussion entitled, “Black Women Moving Structures,” shortly before she was killed. Franco streamed the conversation live on her Facebook page. You can view it here.
Police officials say two men in a car fired nine shots into the car carrying Franco and Gomes. A press officer was shot in the back seat but he survived. Officials believe Franco was targeted.
Franco was a proud Afro-Brazilian and an underdog in Rio politics. She won the fifth highest vote count among council members when she was elected in 2016. She was a police violence expert and recently accused officers of being overly aggressive when searching homes in gang-controlled favelas, The Guardian says. A member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSOL), Franco was known for her social work in the favelas. Her party called for a march on Friday to protest violence in Rio. Brazil’s public security minister, Raul Jungmann, says federal police will help in the investigation of her death.
A lot of tweets have been coming in honoring the late Marielle Franco.
Rest in Power: #MarielleFranco, black councilwoman critical of military police actions and anti-black genocide, was just assassinated in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil. #sayhername #alutacontinua #BlackLivesMatter #blackwomenslivesmater @profsassy @EricaLWilliams7 @democracynow @hrw pic.twitter.com/w2IqAAuzAm
— Keisha-Khan Y. Perry (@drkeishakhan) March 15, 2018
#Sayhername Today we mourn Marielle Franco (1979-2018), Brazilian black woman, activist and member of Rio de Janeiro council by @PsolRio born at Maré favela who accused police officers of using heavy-handed tactics shot dead inside her car last night. #WomensHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/3un6xHHs7T
— Ana Lucia Araujo (@analuciaraujo_) March 15, 2018
We hope our fellow sister gets justice soon.