Shooting at a nightclub in northeastern Brazil leaves 14 dead

The shooting occurred when a group of heavily armed men arrived aboard three vehicles and broke into the Forro do Gago club, in the neighborhood of Cajazeiras, in the center of Fortaleza


A shooting at a nightclub in Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil, left at least 14 people dead early Saturday, local authorities announced.

"We can confirm 14 deaths, knowing that some people are still in serious condition in the hospital ," André Costa, secretary of security for the state of Ceara, whose capital is Fortaleza, said at a press conference, without specifying the exact number of wounded. .

A spokesman for the Institut José Frota, the city's main hospital, told AFP that six people were admitted to the emergency room, including a 12-year-old boy. According to the site of the regional newspaper Diario do Nordeste, which quotes an anonymous police source, the hypothesis is that the attack responded to a settling of accounts between drug traffickers .

"We are not yet in a position to confirm that it is a confrontation between fractions, the investigation is still ongoing, " said the Secretary of Security.

The shooting occurred around 01:30 (local time), when a group of heavily armed men arrived aboard three vehicles and broke into the Forro do Gago club , in the Cajazeiras neighborhood, in downtown Fortaleza.

"It's a brutal scene, a massacre, never seen in Ceara," said a policeman who preferred to remain anonymous to the G1 site. On January 7, the war between drug traffickers left four dead on the outskirts of Fortaleza. In 2017, the state of Ceara registered a record of 5,114 homicides, 50% more than in 2016 .

At the national level, Brazil also registered a record in 2016, with 61,619 murders, which is equivalent to seven homicides per hour .