Back in February, newspapers carried the tragic story of a little boy (aged 7) and his grandmother both shot in what was described as a drive-by shooting in the Bela Vista neighbourhood of Setúbal. Initial reports could find no reason for the incident. The little boy subsequently died of his injuries.
Police inquiries quickly established that the shooter was none other than the child’s uncle: a 30 year old man who was aiming at “a neighbour who had told him to shut up a few hours earlier”. The uncle has been in preventive custody since his arrest, and has now been formally charged with the negligent homicide of his nephew, and grievous bodily harm of the grandmother.
The public prosecutor’s case describes the man’s “spirit of revenge, the surge of adrenaline, some clumsiness and lack of attention” that meant that he hit his own relatives “who were in this line of fire”.
