Funeral of boy killed by stray bullet in Rio

Amid applause and shouts for justice, Ryan Gabriel, 4, was buried Tuesday (Mar. 29) afternoon. The boy died Monday after being shot in the chest on Easter Sunday in Morro do Cajueiro, located in the North Zone of Rio, during a gunfight between drug cartels. Community residents, who had already protested yesterday when they burned two buses and vandalized two BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) stations, have staged demonstrations again, obstructing the traffic through the main avenue of the region.

During the funeral, at Cemitério de Irajá, a cemetery in the North Zone, Milton do Amparo, boy's grandfather, deplored the violence and vowed: "This shall not happen again. No more stray bullet. It's horrible, something that no one expects. We need more security in the city, attaching more value to the human being. "

Milton do Amparo confessed that he can no longer sleep in the bed where the grandson used to sleep with him. "I'm sleeping on the floor now," he vented, while following his grandson's funeral procession.

The boy's mother, Tayane Pereira da Silva, 20, was inconsolable, "I don't deserve this. Not my son. There is a gap in my heart, I'm empty. They plunge a knife deep into my heart," she shouted, beside the boy's grave. The white coffin was then opened for the last time by the mother's order.

On their way home, dwellers of Morro do Cajueiro gather again to protest against the violence, in Edgar Romero Avenue in Madureira, also in the North Zone. The protest caused the obstruction of traffic and the closure of local businesses. Police had to disperse more fiery groups using pepper gas.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta