The director of a news site in Maricá, in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, was killed on June 18. Romário da Silva Barros, 31, was inside his car when he was shot three times, according to G1.
He was the founder of Lei Seca Maricá (LSM), a site dedicated to covering the daily life of the city of 153,000 inhabitants, located 37 miles from Rio de Janeiro. According to the police, the journalist’s murder may have been ordered, as reported by the newspaper O Dia.
The murder of Silva Barros is the second of a journalist in this city in less than one month. On May 25, Robson Giorno, owner of online newspaper O Maricá, was shot dead in front of his house.
Police already know that two men participated in the execution of Silva Barros. Images from surveillance cameras show the two approaching the vehicle where the journalist was, O Dia reported.
On Facebook, LSM published a note in which it lamented the journalist's death: "His early death left us very shaken. We should always remember him with joy, gratitude and longing."
The city hall of Maricá, also on Facebook, described the crime as an "attack on freedom of expression." Mayor Fabiano Horta said via the social network that "it is unacceptable that in less than a month the city is seeing the second death of a journalist.”
The City Council of Maricá decreed official mourning for three days in the city, in honor of the journalist’s memory. Councilman Richard Alter Seal called the murder "a crime of hatred and a curtailment for freedom of the press."
The Union of Professional Journalists of the State of Rio de Janeiro issued a note repudiating the murder and charged "enough of the violence and intolerance of those who think that by force, violence and murder they will silence journalists and intimidate the press." Likewise, the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ, for its acronym in Portuguese) demanded the rapid investigation of both the murders of Silva Barros and that of Giorno.
