Awful double tragedy after driver chased after mugger while mother and daughter were bicycling on sidewalk
A mother and her teenage daughter were killed Sunday after being mowed down by a motorist who escaped suspected cellphone thieves in Brazil.
João Barbosa told investigators from the São Paulo Civil Police that he was sitting in his vehicle when a suspect took his friend’s phone and heard someone say they were going to open fire.
The 30-year-old driver said he mistook the brake pedal for the gas pedal as the vehicle took off down a street in São Paulo’s coastal municipality of Praia Grande.
Surveillance footage shows Barbosa’s SUV chasing the suspect, Claudio da Silva, 20, who may have spotted him.
Barbosa struck da Silva from behind, then jumped the sidewalk and crashed into Carla Queiroz, 38, and her 13-year-old daughter, whose name has not been released, while they were riding their bikes.
Queiroz was pushed against a wall and her chest and skull were crushed. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her daughter was trapped under the vehicle and died in an ambulance while being rushed to an area hospital.
A male pedestrian was also struck on the sidewalk and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Claudio da Silva (circled) was seen on a surveillance camera racing a bicycle while being chased by João Barbosa (driver of the vehicle below right) after his friend’s cell phone was stolen and then da Silva pinned it down before crashing into Carla Queiroz floundered. 38, and her 13-year-old daughter, who died
Carla Queiroz was cycling with her daughter when they were hit by the driver of a vehicle chasing a suspected cellphone thief in Praia Grande, Brazil, on Sunday. The 38-year-old mother died at the scene and her 13-year-old child died in an ambulance
The 13-year-old received medical attention from paramedics as she was rushed to a local hospital, but died before arriving
Barbosa was arrested on charges of manslaughter and remained in police custody.
Da Silva was arrested on charges of theft and also remained in prison ahead of his trial.
Da Silva told investigators that Barbosa approached him near a beach and accused him of stealing a necklace a day earlier.
He claimed Barbosa drove up to him with two other women in the car and pointed a gun at him.
Da Silva added that he tried to escape on an unknown person’s bicycle before Barbosa caught up and ran him over.
Claudio da Silva is surrounded by officers on Sunday in Praia Grande, a beach resort in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo, moments after he allegedly stole a man’s mobile phone and launched a wild chase, caught on camera, which showed he was attacked from behind by an SUV driven by the robbery victim’s boyfriend, who also struck and killed a mother and her daughter
João Barbosa’s vehicle became stuck between a light pole and the fence of a home in Praia Grande, Brazil, on Sunday after he jumped the sidewalk after hitting a robbery suspect on a bicycle and into a mother and daughter who were riding their own bicycles. the sidewalk
According to Brazil’s annual Public Security Yearbook 2024, at least 1 million mobile phones were stolen or robbed in the South American country in 2023, an average of one mobile device every 33 seconds.
Authorities in São Paulo recorded 137,891 cellphone robberies last year.
In July, a 17-year-old boy was caught on camera taking a 71-year-old man’s cell phone while he was talking on it on a corner, before being hit by a bus.
The teen was able to crawl out from under the bus and was taken to a hospital, where he died.