São Paulo lawmaker detained over bar shot is released
Marcelo Aguiar, of the PL, was detained after a gunshot in an Itaim Bibi bar and left the police station after giving a statement. His staff blames a reaction to medication.
Military police detained São Paulo state lawmaker Marcelo Aguiar, of the Liberal Party (PL), in the early hours of Monday after a gunshot at the Santo Cupido Bar, a nightclub in the Itaim Bibi neighborhood. He left the police station after giving a statement.
The altercation began, Metrópoles reports, when the lawmaker bothered two women and other patrons came to their defense. A witness quoted by Gazeta Mercantil tells the shot differently: the lawmaker stumbled, and the gun went off as he fell.
Aguiar told police he felt ill, possibly from medication, that he turned when he heard someone call him, then fell and heard the shot. If it came from his weapon, he said, it was an accident. His staff spoke of "strong medications" and an "adverse reaction."
There was a single shot. The initial report mentions no injuries; later messages say the bullet may have grazed a patron, which could not be confirmed.
The weapon is a .380-caliber Glock G42, registered with the federal Sinarm system and covered by a federal carry permit, military police say. It was seized and sent for forensic examination. No alcohol test was requested, so intoxication is not confirmed.
Police saw no basis for keeping him in custody on a flagrant-offense charge, and his release is attributed to parliamentary immunity. Brazil's Constitution limits arrest in the act for legislators, state lawmakers included. Being freed does not mean the case is closed or that he has been cleared.
A car carrying São Paulo Legislative Assembly (Alesp) identification was also taken to the station. The Assembly says that identification does not belong to vehicles from Aguiar's office. The 53-year-old lawmaker, an economist and gospel singer, failed to win reelection on Oct. 4.
The investigation continues at the 15th Police District. The forensic exam of the pistol and the bar's camera footage, which has not yet been seen, will show whether the shot was deliberate or accidental.
