Retired policeman kills five family members, commits suicide

Rio de Janeiro, Oct 4: A retired policeman shot five family members to death before killing himself at a home in Brazil's Minas Gerais state, officials said on Saturday.

The family's bodies were found late Friday in different rooms of the house outside Extrema, a municipality in the southern region of Minas Gerais, by police officers called by neighbours who heard the gun being fired.

Investigators reached the preliminary conclusion that Sergio Ricardo da Silva, 53, a retired agent of the Militarized Police who had served in the neighbouring state of Sao Paulo, killed his father-in-law and mother-in-law, his wife, a 14-year-old daughter and an adopted daughter, 12, before shooting himself.

According to police, Da Silva refused to grant his wife a divorce and insisted on reconciliation.

The retired cop's wife, determined to leave him, had gone to live with her daughters at the country home of her parents in Extrema, where the ex-policeman went Friday night, supposedly to try to convince his wife but armed with a handgun.

The gun used in all the shootings was found next to Da Silva's body.

Agents of the Minas Gerais Militarized Police, who rushed to the scene after neighbours reported hearing gunshots, had to knock down a wall to get into the residence, since the doors were locked from inside.

IANS