Gleydson Carvalho was not shy when it came to demanding the truth from the government. He developed campaigns against government corruption some years ago, and when he was on his radio show, Radio Liberdade FM, in north east Brazil, he brazenly spoke about it. Carvalho would receive death threats on social media and his radio show, but he waved them off. On Thursday, his life would end at the hands of two gunmen who walked into his studio.
During an interlude in his show, gunmen entered the studio portraying a facade of interested ad buyers. That rouse ended when the gunmen threatened the receptionist with their drawn weapons, and intimidated an engineer into hiding. They worked their way to the outspoken DJ’s booth and shot him three times in the chest and head before escaping on a motorbike.
Emergency services arrived to rush Carvalho to the hospital. The DJ died during transport due to the extent of his injuries. Police began a manhunt to track down the killers. 50 miles from the studio, police raided the home of a young couple, 23-year-old Gisele Sousa do Nascimiento, and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Francisco Carnerio Portela. Police said they discovered evidence in the home that indicates they were accomplices in the shooting.
The killing of journalists has been significant in Brazil, particularly among the outskirts of smaller provinces and cities. Earlier this year, a blogger who was involved in an investigative story of a child prostitution ring was found murdered, decapitated, near Padre Paraíso.
Since 2011, 16 outspoken media personalities have been killed, some tortured before their death. The Committee to Protect Journalists advised this is the third journalist this year alone that has been killed in the line of their work. They are urging law enforcement to crack down on these attacks which violate “the right of all Brazilians to be informed, not to mention ending journalists’ lives.”