SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A close ally of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro running for governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio Freitas, said a campaign event was “attacked by criminals” on Monday in the Paraisopolis neighborhood of the state capital.
Sao Paulo Public Security Secretary Joao Camilo Campos said that preliminary information suggested there had not been an attack targeting Freitas, although investigators had not ruled out any hypothesis. Officials confirmed a man was killed near the site of the campaign event, but provided no further details.
“First of all, we are all fine. During a visit to the 1st University Hub of Paraisopolis, we were attacked by criminals. Our security team was quickly reinforced with brilliant work by the @PMESP (Sao Paulo Military Police). A criminal was shot. We are looking into details of the situation,” he said on Twitter.
On one video that local media said was taken near the event the sound of several loud bangs could be heard. Reuters has not verified the video.
The scare comes amid a tense election season in Brazil, with presidential campaigns stepping up security measures amid a rising tide of political violence – although there was no sign initially of political motives behind Monday’s incident.
Freitas served as infrastructure minister in Bolsonaro’s government and had a strong lead in the first round of the Sao Paulo gubernatorial race over former Mayor Fernando Haddad, an ally of leftist presidential challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Both races now go to a runoff vote on Oct. 30.
President Bolsonaro said during a press conference in Brasilia that whether or not Freitas was the target of an attack, the incident showed that the candidate needed to have a greater concern for his safety.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba O’Brien)
