Dom Phillips was 'collateral damage' in drunken ambush, claims Brazil vice-president
Hamilton Mourão’s claim sparked anger from Indigenous communities who believe organised crime was involved
Andrew Downie in São Paulo, Oliver Laughland and Roberto Kaz in Atalaia do Norte
Tue 21 Jun 2022 15.51 EDT
Brazil’s vice-president has claimed that British journalist Dom Phillips was “collateral damage” in an
attack on his travelling partner, the Indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, as grisly details emerged about the killing of the two men in early June.
One of the three men in custody for the killings said he and his accomplices tried to burn the bodies after shooting them dead at the edge of a river in western Brazil.
When that did not work, they returned the next day and buried them, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira said in a police reconstruction video broadcast on TV Globo.
The bodies of the two men were found last Wednesday, after Amarildo led police to the spot where they were buried, 3.1km from the banks of the river.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/21/dom-phillips-drunken-ambush-brazil-vice-president