Military Police officer André da Costa was arrested and then provisionally released after fatally shooting Camila da Silva, 32, as she approached officers with a knife in São Paulo.
Da Silva, a mother of two, died Thursday on a street in the northern neighborhood of Pirituba after officers ordered her repeatedly to drop her weapon. Authorities believe she may have been experiencing a psychotic episode at the time.
The incident began when da Silva’s estranged husband, Diogo Silva, ran up to da Costa and his two partners from the Military Police’s Motorcycle-Assisted Patrol Unit. The officers had stopped at a repair shop after one of their bikes developed a mechanical issue. Diogo Silva told them his wife had just tried to kill him.
Da Silva arrived moments later brandishing the knife and refused commands to surrender. Video showed her advancing toward the officers with the weapon held next to her leg before da Costa fired a single shot to her chest.
São Paulo Military Police Chief João Murgolo ordered da Costa’s arrest and disputed that the shooting was justified. “At the moment of the shooting, the victim did not attack any of the military police officers, nor did he make any movement to attack the officer in front,” he wrote in a report. “At the moment of the shot, the victim made no striking motion: he did not raise his arm, did not brandish the knife, and did not advance suddenly.”
Murgolo continued, “Even if we accept the version that he was advancing towards the patrol, the mere movement of a person with a knife in hand, with arms down and without an offensive gesture, several meters away, does not in itself constitute imminent aggression that authorizes lethal force.”
Judge Lucas Bannwart granted da Costa provisional release during a custody hearing Friday, citing his lack of prior arrests. The officer was suspended for one year, stripped of his gun privileges, assigned to desk duty, and barred from leaving São Paulo for more than eight days without permission.
Da Costa remains under investigation for a separate December 2025 killing of a robbery suspect who was holding a fake gun.
Diogo Silva told investigators that he and da Silva had separated five months earlier and that she was distressed by the breakup. She appeared at his new home Thursday without speaking to him, then later threatened him. Da Silva’s aunt informed authorities that her niece had battled health issues for five years and had spent the last two awaiting a liver transplant. She added that the couple’s relationship had been marked by disagreements and that da Silva disapproved of her husband’s new girlfriend.
Da Silva’s death is the third fatal shooting by São Paulo Military Police in twelve days involving individuals in mental-health crises. On Oct. 3, officers shot Antonio Batista, 40, twenty-four times in the Vila Dionísia neighborhood after he allegedly threatened pedestrians with a knife and a metal pole. Batista had already been incapacitated by a stun gun and lay motionless on the ground when officers discharged their weapons. On Oct. 10, officers fired twenty-seven times at Gustavo da Santana, 20, in the Moema neighborhood after mistaking his cell phone for a gun while responding to a suicide call.
São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas addressed reporters Friday about the pattern of killings. “We will have a meeting with the Military Police command next week to review procedures and training, to prevent excesses,” he said. “We don’t want that, and the police have to protect society. So, we are attentive to this issue and we do see a need to review procedures.”