The dead bodies of two drug dealers suspected of accidentally killing three orthopedic surgeons and injuring another at a hotel bar in Brazil were found in two separate vehicles on Thursday evening.
Rio de Janeiro police identified the two suspects as Phillip “Lesk” Motta and Ryan Nunes.
They also discovered the bodies of two other dealers in a separate car. They were not related to the shooting.
Authorities are still looking for two other suspects, Bruno Pinto and Juan Malta, for their involvement in the shooting that took place before 1 a.m. Thursday outside the Windsor Hotel in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra da Tijuca neighborhood.
Dr. Marcos de Andrade, 63, Dr. Diego Bomfim, 35, Dr. Perseu Ribeiro, 33 and Dr. Daniel Sonnewend, 32, were waiting to pay their bill when the gunmen pulled up in an SUV and opened fire.
De Andrade, Bomfim and Ribeiro were killed and Sonnewend survived after being shot fourteen times. He is recovering in a local hospital after a 10-hour operation.
He posted a video on social media on Friday morning, saying: ‘Guys, everything is going well, see? All is well, thank God. Only a few fractures, but we’ll be fine. We will get through this together. Thank you for your concern. Thank you!’
Investigators believe the four men were executed because they mistook Ribeiro for Taillon da Alcântara, a member of a militia from Rio de Janeiro.
Phillip ‘Lesk’ Motta (left) and Ryan Nunes (right) are two of four drug dealers suspected by Rio de Janeiro police of killing three surgeons and wounding another in an attack in which they confused doctors with the militia member they wanted to kill
Dr. Marcos de Andrade (left), Dr. Diego Bomfim (second from left), Dr. Daniel Sonnewend (second from right) and Dr. Perseu Ribeiro (right) took a group photo just before gunmen opened fire on them at a bar outside the Windsor Hotel in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra da Tijuca neighborhood. Dr. Sonnewend is the only doctor who survived
The drug dealers reportedly received a phone call revealing that their target, militia member Taillon de Alcântara (pictured), was in a hotel bar in Rio de Janeiro. However, the attackers executed three surgeons and injured another. One of the doctors who died looked like the Alcântara
Globo TV A civilian police task force that fights militias and drug trafficking groups intercepted a telephone just before the shooting in which Malta tells the gunmen that da Alcântara is at the bar.
The drug gang is looking for da Alcântara for his alleged involvement in the murder of one of Motta’s associates on September 16.
Da Alcântara was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for criminal organization in July 2021, but was placed under house arrest in March and released on parole on September 29.
A hotel surveillance camera captured the moment the suspects jumped out of a white Fiat Pulse and fired about 30 shots in the span of about 20 seconds.
A bar customer flees from the hotel bar in Rio de Janeiro where gunmen executed three orthopedic surgeons and wounded a fourth on Thursday
Dr. Perseu Ribeiro, one of three doctors murdered in a hotel bar in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, had just turned 33 two days earlier
Dr. Diego Bomfim (photo), one of the three doctors shot dead, is the brother of São Paulo Congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim
Dr. Marcos de Andrade died on the spot after being shot by gunmen at a bar outside a hotel in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. The surgeon, one of the three dead, was 63 years old
Da Alcântara’s house is on the same lane as the Windsor Hotel and was a regular visitor to the bar.
His father, Dalmir Alcântara, is the leader of the militia that has operated in the west side of Rio de Janeiro for about thirty years and has a long-standing feud with the network that included the drug dealers.
The surgeons were in Rio de Janeiro to attend the 6th International Conference on Minimally Invasive Foot and Ankle Surgery, which started on Thursday.
They had taken a selfie just before the barbaric shooting and shared it on social media.
Authorities initially investigated whether there was a political motivation for the shooting because Bomfim’s sister, Sâmia Bomfim, is a congresswoman in São Paulo state. Her husband, Glauber Braga, is a congressman from Rio de Janeiro.
‘We, the family, will request access to the investigation data through our lawyers, as the law allows us, so that we can access the information and closely monitor all lines of inquiry and possibilities of the Rio de Janeiro civil investigation . Police,” Congressman Bomfim told G1.