Hundreds of military police officers attended, this Monday (12), the burial of the sub-lieutenant of the Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE) Glaucio Marcelo da Silva, aged 54. He died after being shot during a shootout between military police officers from BOPE and the Jacarepaguá Battalion, in Freguesia, in the West Zone of Rio.
Glaucio leaves behind three children and would have completed 26 years in the Military Police in December. Most of his career was dedicated to Bope, a unit that, according to his ex-wife, he was passionate about.
"Gláucio was passionate about his work. He said that it was part of him. It's not that he was part of Bope. Bope was part of him," she said.
The death occurred in the early hours of Sunday (11), on Rua Guilherme Moreira, known as Beco do Saci, one of the access points to the Gardênia Azul community.
According to the Military Police, BOPE agents who were in uniform and in a designated vehicle were approaching the driver of a car when they were mistaken for criminals by police officers from the Jacarepaguá Battalion, who shot at them.
Bope agent killed lost brother 1 year ago in Rio — Photo: Reproduction
20 minutes of shots
Residents of the region reported an intense exchange of gunfire during the early hours of the morning. A security camera from a nearby condominium recorded the sound of gunshots.
A person who has lived in the region for 43 years said that he woke up scared by the shooting and sought shelter inside his house.
"We were sleeping, normally, in the middle of the night. A scary shooting started, we woke up to the noise. I've lived here for forty-three years, I've never experienced something of this magnitude, it was twenty minutes incessantly", said the resident.
The witness said he went into the hallway of the house to try to protect himself from the gunfire.
"I had to get out of my bed and go to the hallway (...) as I didn't know where it was coming from, try to protect myself more, have more walls for a shot like that to go through. I stayed there for half an hour waiting for things to calm down", he added.
Shooting leaves a BOPE PM dead and four other officers injured in Gardênia Azul — Photo: Reproduction
Other police officers were injured
In addition to Glaucio, other police officers were hit during the shooting. Two of them were discharged and attended the funeral, still with bandages on one of their hands and one leg. They didn't want to record an interview.
Three police officers remained hospitalized at Lourenço Jorge Municipal Hospital, in Barra da Tijuca, according to information in the report.
The Military Police stated that the confusion occurred because of low light in the area. Residents also reported that the street is very dark.
The Capital Homicide Police Station (DHC) carried out an investigation at the scene and collected capsules that were scattered on the ground and in Military Police vehicles. The agents involved in the action have already been interviewed.
Glaucio's ex-wife stated that the family wants to understand how information about the presence of BOPE police officers was transmitted to agents from the other battalion.
"We want to understand exactly what happened because first hand it was told to us that there was no communication and we already know that communication was made"
"We want to understand who was notified, did this person pass the communication on to the entire battalion or why, if they knew he was in that area, why did all this happen?", he asked.
Family had already lost another PM
Gláucio's death is the second loss of a military police officer in the family in less than a year. His brother, also a police officer, died in October 2025 during Operation Containment, in Penha, in the North Zone of Rio. The action left 122 people dead, according to data released at the time.
