Journalists Killed in 2013 - Motive Confirmed: Mafaldo Bezerra Goes

FM Rio Jaguaribe
February 22, 2013, in Jaguaribe, Brazil

Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot Goes as he walked from his house to the radio station where he worked, according to news reports. Goes, who hosted a radio show on FM Rio Jaguaribe in the city of Jaguaribe, in the northern state of Ceará, was shot at least five times in the head and abdomen, the reports said. Goes had often denounced local criminal groups and drug traffickers on his program, according to news reports. Family members told the local media that Goes had received death threats, according to news reports. The police said the reporter had not filed a formal complaint. Authorities said they believed the murder could be related to Goes' reporting on crime. "He died because of his profession. He made a lot of people angry," said Police Chief Vera Lúcia Passos Granja in local reports. Police said on Sunday that they had identified the gunmen and that they suspected the murder had been ordered by a drug dealer imprisoned in the city of Fortaleza but who operated in Jaguaribe, according to the newspaper Diário do Nordeste. Authorities said they were looking for the suspects, local reports said. A week after the crime, police officials said they were seeking preventative detention for the two suspects but did not provide more details.