Gesio de Avila, a co-worker, said Mr de Menezes called him moments before the deadly shots to say he was late for work. “If he ran, it was simply because he was late,” Mr de Avila told O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.
Financial Times:
Relatives threaten to sue police over killing
By Raymond Colitt in Sao Paulo and Jimmy Burns in London Published: July 24 2005 17:47
Relatives of the young Brazilian who was shot dead by British police only to be declared innocent of any links with the London bombs on Sunday threatened to sue British police for compensation.
The warning came as Brazilians reacted with disbelief and anger to the killing of a Brazilian man who was shot dead with several bullets to the head by undercover police.
The government said it was “shocked and perplexed” and was awaiting clarifications from British authorities. Celso Amorim, Brazil's foreign minister, coincidentally in London for a meeting to discuss United Nations reforms, on Sunday said he received apologies and guarantees for a full investigation from the British government.
“It is important to know the details ... even though we cannot give back the life of Jean Charles de Menezes,” Mr Amorim said.
In London on Sunday, British and international media flmed an emotional re-enactment of Mr de Menezes’ final moments by his cousin Alex.
“I want to show the people [the police] could have stopped him before he took the bus,” Alex Pereira said.
According to relatives, Mr de Menezes had been working legally in the UK as an electrician for three years.
British police say they shot Mr de Menezes after he emerged from a house which was under surveillance in connection with the London bombs. The shooting took place after he had taken a bus and run into an undergrond station, police say.
The incident damaged a positive image of British security forces in Brazil's media. Commentators had previously praised police and emergency services in response to the terrorist bomb attacks more than two weeks ago.
On Sunday all of Brazil's major newspapers carried front-page reports on the killing. The headline in Folha de Sao Paulo, one of the country's leading dailies read: “Casualty by English Police was Innocent and Brazilian.”
Family members in his home town of Gonzaga, in the central state of Minas Gerais, had feared for Mr de Menezes' life during the terrorist bombings but were aghast to hear he had been shot dead by police. They described him as a “peaceful, hard-working and good-hearted lad”.
“I am devastated. He was smart and educated. He would never get involved in terrorism,” said Zilda Ambrósio de Figueiredo, his 77-year-old grandmother. Neighbours said Mr de Menezes' parents were too shocked to speak to the press. They insist he be buried in Gonzaga.
Several relatives considered legal action. “We don't know what to do. I think we need to sue [the British government],” Alexandra Alves Pereira, another cousin, told Folha. "We can't let it go. I'm besides myself with anger and sadness."
Gesio de Avila, a co-worker, said Mr de Menezes called him moments before the deadly shots to say he was late for work. “If he ran, it was simply because he was late,” Mr de Avila told O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.
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