Ceará Sergeant Recounts Ambush That Killed Three Officers, Survivors Freed

Sergeant Michelly Mariano of the Military Police returned to the site of a deadly ambush in Quixadá, Ceará, ten years after the event. On July 30, 2015, Mariano and her colleagues were responding to a call when they encountered a group of eight to ten armed individuals intending to rob an armored car. The assailants, armed with rifles, opened fire on the police vehicles, killing three officers and wounding another. Mariano recounted the terror of the attack, stating that a rifle was held to her face and she was threatened with death. Following the initial confrontation, the criminals fled in one of the police vehicles, taking Mariano and another officer hostage. She described being in the truck bed, fearing for her life while thinking of her one-year-old son. The perpetrators used a truck to block the road, hindering pursuit, and fired over 30 rifle shots into the police vehicle before abandoning it. Mariano and her fellow hostage managed to escape into nearby woods. The three officers who died were killed either at the scene or succumbed to their injuries later. The two hostages were eventually released on a road outside the municipality, and the stolen police vehicle was found abandoned. Notably, in February of this year, two individuals accused of involvement in the shootout were acquitted after spending eight years in prison.