Massacre in Petrolina: what is known and what remains to be clarified about the four deaths in Cacheado

The Pernambuco Civil Police are investigating the massacre that killed three men and a woman on Monday night (20), in an occupied area in the Cacheado neighborhood, in Petrolina, in the Sertão of the state. The crime frightened local residents who, for fear of reprisals, preferred not to record interviews.

The victims were killed inside a residence that, according to preliminary investigations, was used as a drug consumption point.

According to the Civil Police, the victims were between 33 and 41 years old. Three of them were officially identified: José Samuel Pereira Machado, 33 years old; Adriana Rodrigues do Nascimento, 34 years old; José Elielson Ferreira da Silva, 37 years old.

The fourth victim, a man, has not yet had his identity confirmed by the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML). According to the police, none of the four victims had a criminal record or had been in the prison system.

g1 contacted the Pernambuco Social Defense Secretariat (SDS) to confirm whether the bodies had already been released by the Petrolina IML, but did not receive a response until the last update of this report.

According to the police, the victims were inside the property when they were surprised by armed men, who invaded the place and shot several times. One of the victims even tried to run into the street to escape the shots, but he did not survive his injuries and died on the public road.

The Homicide Police team, coordinated by delegate Erisvaldo Leal, carried out the initial investigation at the crime scene. Ammunition capsules of .38 and 9mm calibers were collected. The investigation shows that one of the victims was hit by around 20 shots, which reinforces the hypothesis of execution.

The Civil Police reported that one of the main lines of investigation is the relationship between the crime and drug trafficking. According to the corporation, there is evidence that the property functioned as a drug consumption point and that the victims were users.

Until the last update of this article, no suspect had been arrested. The authorship and motivation of the crime remain under investigation by the Petrolina Homicide Police Station.

With this quadruple homicide, Petrolina counts 180 murders this year, according to a survey by g1. The number is just one case away from equaling the total number of violent deaths recorded throughout last year, when 181 crimes of this nature were recorded.