Brazilian journalist Lourenço Veras was murdered on Wednesday(12), inside his home in Pedro Juan Caballero, a city in Paraguay. Known as Léo Veras, he owned a news site on the Brazilian border region and suffered threats for his work covering drug trafficking.
The Paraguayan police reported that they are working with three or four hypotheses, one of them related to threats linked to his reports on drug trafficking in the region.
Léo Veras was killed at around 10 pm (9 pm, state time) when he was having dinner with his father-in-law, his wife, and son. According to prosecutor Marcos Amarilla, of the Public Ministry of the Amambay Department, a region that includes Pedro Juan Caballero, the crime was carried out by two armed and hooded men, who arrived in a white Jeep Cherokee. "They didn't say anything, they just shot."
Léo Veras was shot with 12 9 mm bullets, mostly from the back while trying to run. One of the bullets hit him in the head. None of his family members were injured. Then the men ran away in the truck.
The Prosecutor said the action involved at least three men, as one remained in the vehicle, but they are awaiting images from the security circuit to see if there was another person in the truck.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon