The Candelaria church massacre was a criminal act that took place in the "Candelaria church", located at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It ocurred on July 23, 1993.

Candelaria church

The Candelaria church is a Catholic church that holds mass on Sundays and other, typical services of the Catholic religion.

It is famous around Rio de Janeiro for being a makeshift home to several, perhaps hundreds, of homeless children, many of whom are involved in drugs, prostitution and other crimes. One of these children, Sandro Rosa do Nascimento, went on to commit another of Brazil's most infamous crimes.

The church's personnel provides food, shelter, education and religious advice to as many of these children as they can. The Brazilian police keeps constant vigil of the church's surroundings.

The massacre

According to some survivors, a young group of children had gone during the morning of the day before the massacre happened, to throw stones at police cars. Some policemen told them something like "don't worry, we will get you soon!". As children from the Candelaria church were usually given warnings such as these by policemen, the young perpetrators left without worrying too much about the threat.

At about 12 midnight local time on the night of the massacre, the children heard a few cars come to a halt in front of their shelter. Next, gunfire was heard. The children tried to cover up, but eight of them were shot to their deaths, with several others wounded.

The international community condemned the attacks severely, and many in Brazil asked for those who shot the Candelaria church children to be prosecuted.

Aftermath

Fifty officers were accused for the massacre. One of them, Mauricio da Conceição , died during a shootout as he was about to be arrested in 1994. Two others, Marcos Emmanuel and Nelson Cunha , were handed life sentences, but they could avoid spending life in jail, because, according to Brazilian laws, anyone who gets a sentence of twenty or more years in jail, automatically qualifies for a second trial.