By Maira Magro
Police have arrested a man in Rio Grande do Norte state who has confessed to killing radio journalist Francisco Gomes de Medeiros on Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. Gomes was a local radio news director and blogger who had reported on corruption and crime, including drug trafficking.
João Francisco dos Santos was captured in Caíco and claimed to have shot Gomes from a motorcycle in reprisal for the journalist’s coverage of his 2007 conviction on armed robbery charges. But members of the reporter’s family believe drug traffickers are behind the killing, CPJ says, citing local media reports.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and have not ruled out that someone may have ordered the killing allegedly carried out by Santos, the Tribuna do Norte newspaper reports. Santos will be offered a plea bargain if he reveals who ordered the attack, the paper adds.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
