"He had hatred, a lot of hatred. He intended to kill someone. He talked all the time about killing." The report is from one of the women attacked by a resident of a condominium in Tijuca, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The victim exclusively told GloboNews in an interview that he believed he would die during the attack.
The woman suffered a fracture to her face, may need surgery and says she is afraid to continue living in the building.
The victim, who will not be identified for security reasons, said she was surprised by the attacker when she tried to help other residents. According to her, the man ordered her to kneel and began beating her after she refused.
"I didn't imagine he would attack me like that because I didn't do anything. He started telling me to kneel to attack me. I thought he was joking, but no. He said: 'Kneel, kneel'. I didn't kneel and he started to beat me", he reported.
The victim said she received several punches to the head and that the man tried to immobilize her with a blow known as a "rear-naked choke".
"When he tried to give me a rear naked choke, I almost passed out, but I managed to react. That's when I cried out to God. I thought: 'My God, am I going to die?'. I was getting choked," she said.
According to the resident, during the attacks, the man repeated that he would kill everyone in the condominium and made gun gestures with his hands.
"He just said he was going to kill everyone. He said he was going to kill everyone in the building. He just punched me in the head. I used my arm to protect myself and he also hit my arm."
The attacker remains detained in the Benfica Prison and must still undergo a custody hearing.
'The pain of the soul is worse'
Lucas Portela Fontana Gomes attacks neighbor in the elevator — Photo: Reproduction
The woman was rescued by firefighters and taken to hospital. She said she only realized the severity of the injuries the next morning, when she saw her own face.
"I fractured a bone in my face. I may have to have surgery. I still feel a lot of pain in my head, arm, stomach, abdomen. I'm taking medication, but I have to go back to do the tests again," he said.
In addition to the physical consequences, the victim states that he faces the fear of meeting the attacker again, with whom he had never had contact.
"I'm scared, scared of staying here. I'm scared of meeting him."
When talking about the consequences of the attack, the resident said that the psychological suffering can be even more difficult to overcome than the injuries.
"Despite the pain of the body, I think the pain of the soul is worse. We take care of the pain of the body, but now the pain of the soul is already complicated", he said.
The victim said he hopes the attacker remains locked up so he doesn't attack other people.
"I hope justice is served. He could have taken someone's life, just like the little lady who was unconscious on the floor. Mine too. Or even a child. It's very scary, because if he did this to me, he will do it to other people, other women, until he reaches the point of killing someone."
Condominium evaluates expulsion of attacker
The condominium has already formalized a request to the owner of the apartment so that measures can be taken to remove the attacker from the property.
According to lawyer André Luiz Junqueira, who represents the condominium, the administration is also considering legal action to exclude the resident for anti-social behavior.
The man is a tenant and has lived in the building for around four years. According to the lawyer, there were no previous records of relevant incidents or conflicts involving the resident. According to police, he already had convictions for bodily harm and evading traffic.
"This scared the entire community. The condominium has already formalized an eviction request to the property owner, in view of the tenant's serious breach of contract, so that he can be removed immediately via eviction action", stated Junqueira.
According to the lawyer, the owner was also scared by the episode and showed a willingness to take action. The condominium awaits a formal response.
At the same time, the administration is considering going directly to court to prevent the attacker from returning to occupy the apartment.
Junqueira explained that the majority understanding is that an action to exclude an antisocial resident needs to be preceded by approval at a condominium assembly. In this case, however, the administration is considering not holding the meeting for fear of exposing residents to possible reprisals.
"It is natural that residents are afraid of reprisals, given the violence of the attacks and also of not knowing who this person knows and who could cause harm to their neighbors. So, we are evaluating taking action directly, demonstrating to the court the seriousness of his behavior, and managing to expel him", he explained.
The lawyer also stated that the condominium is awaiting the results of requests for protective measures to ensure that, if the attacker is released, he does not return to the building and threaten the victims again.
Victim tried to help neighbors before being attacked
The woman said she was sleeping when she heard screams from children, teenagers and adults in the condominium. As she was alone at home, she decided to go down to find out what was happening.
When he arrived at the common area, he found scared residents. A family reported that a man had broken into their apartment and threatened to kill everyone. An elderly woman reportedly remained in the property.
"The children were asking for their grandmother. I said: 'Calm down, I'll see what I can do'. I went to try to help. When he saw me, he started attacking, without asking anything", he recalled.
According to the victim, the attacker showed hatred especially towards women. She stated that, despite the presence of other residents in the building, the physical attacks were directed at women.
"He only attacked women. His problem was with women, I don't know why. He only attacked women and tried to break into an apartment where there was a woman," he stated.
The resident said that she has lived in the condominium for six years and had never seen the attacker before the episode.
She learned, already at the hospital, that another woman, an elderly woman, had also been attacked and needed medical attention. According to his report, the man also broke down apartment doors during the confusion.
The victim stated that the attacker repeatedly threatened to kill residents and that she even feared that he was armed.
"The way he was acting, I thought he had a gun and was going to kill everyone. That's all he said. He kept saying he was going to kill everyone."
Defense of victims calls for protective measures
Criminal lawyer Marisa Dreys, who represents the victims, stated that protective measures have already been requested and that legal action is focused on protecting women and gathering evidence for the criminal investigation.
According to Marisa, the images from the security cameras, which recorded the attacks against the woman, only show part of the violence suffered by the victims.
"These images show the violence of the act, but they do not show the fear, pain and consequences that these women will have from now on," he said.
"Our legal, technical action is to firstly accept the protective measures that have already been requested and the collection of evidence to facilitate criminal investigation in the best way", he added.
The lawyer also praised the work carried out by the police.
"It is necessary to highlight the excellent work of the police, because, even if there are laws, if they are not well applied, it is of no use. What I was able to witness was an excellent work by the police station."
Still recovering, the victim states that she needs security guarantees to continue living in the condominium.
"I need to be sure of security here in the condominium. If he comes back here, I don't know what it will be like. He's a person who is scared. I can't live with him."
How were the attacks
According to reports gathered in the investigation, at around 1 am Lucas Portela Fontana Gomes broke into, for no apparent reason, a neighbor's apartment on the 3rd floor and assaulted an 81-year-old woman. Her relatives managed to leave the property and went to the entrance to ask for help.
A 40-year-old neighbor on the second floor heard the screams and calls for help and also went down to the ground floor. “He’s with my grandmother!”, a young man told him.
She then went up to the 3rd floor to check what was happening. When he arrived, he found Lucas already at the elevator door. Dogs that were loose in the hallway enter the cabin.
Lucas, barefoot and shirtless, demands that his neighbor kneel down. Then, give a kick. “Don’t you hit me!” asks the woman.
The attacker ignores the plea and begins a brutal sequence of punches and elbows. The victim, in vain, tries to protect himself with his hands. The elevator goes down to the ground floor, but no one comes to help.
The attacks continue: Lucas corners his neighbor in the elevator and starts pushing her head against a wall. Then, from behind, he strangles her with a “rear naked choke” and takes her to the ground.
The woman has difficulty breathing. Lucas releases her, lying on the floor, and starts punching her in the face, leaning on his knees on the victim's chest. Dogs try to stop aggression.
Lucas goes back up to the 3rd floor.
The police shot him in the legs. According to the record, even though he was injured, Lucas resisted arrest and tried to climb the stairs. He was immobilized after using a stun gun.
