SÃO PAULO
Brazilian police have arrested the main suspect in the death of TV cameraman Santiago Andrade.
Caio Silva de Souza, 23, was flown back to Rio on Wednesday morning, after police put a warrant out for his arrest on Tuesday.
Andrade, 49, was left with severe head injuries during last Thursday's violent protests in Rio, after being hit by a flare. He was pronounced brain dead on Monday.
Souza was located in hostel accommodation in Feira de Santana, at around 2 am local time; reports say he did not resist arrest.
This is the second arrest in connection with Andrade’s death; 23-year-old Fábio Raposo was arrested on Tuesday and is charged with murder after passing the explosive device to Souza.
'Fleeing to Ceará'
Fernando Veloso, Rio civil police chief, said that police would clarify whether the two men in custody had acted together: "A basic analysis of the footage already leads us to believe [they] are there together with the same desire. They do not appear to be random [...] or isolated, as they wish us to believe."
Raposo had previously denied knowing Souza, but later admitted they were known to each other from previous protests.
Tadeu, representing Souza, said that he had given himself up to police and had not been handcuffed at the scene, and that his client had been travelling “unaware” of the arrest warrant issued against him, Folha de S.Paulo daily reports.
When Souza's girlfriend told him about the arrest warrant, Tadeu said that he took the decision to hand himself into police.
However, police say he was arrested and that Souza had intended on fleeing to his grandfather's house in the city of Ipu, Ceará state, also in Brazil's northeast region.
The hostel where he was eventually taken into custody is around 100km from the historic state capital, Salvador. Brazilian media also report that Souza used a false name when reserving the accommodation.
“We are convinced that Caio [Souza]'s violent participation in these protests was not limited to what we are aware of now, and that we have overwhelming evidence that he is responsible for Santiago [Andrade]'s death,” police chief Fernando Veloso said.
Brazil's Globo TV reported that, after being held by police, Souza said he did not know the device was a flare, and instead believed it to be a type of firecracker.
Souza apologised to the cameraman's family for the “death of a worker, like me, my mother and my father.”
by Ben Tavener
englishnews@aa.com.tr
