Disaster at Bob Marley’s birthday celebration held in São Miguel Paulista!

University student Daniela Maria de Freitas and carpenter Alexsandro Felix de Sena were murdered during the reggae show "Aniversário da Morte de Bob Marley", held at Praça Antonio Assis Pereira, in São Miguel Paulista, in the eastern zone of the capital. According to the event organizers, about 10,000 people were gathered, mostly young people. In the confusion, two young men were shot but are not at risk.

Daniela is believed to have died from a stray bullet - the shot hit her neck. "I warned my daughter that it was dangerous to go out at night, but she was already grown up and knew what she was doing," said unemployed Daniel de Freitas, Daniela's father. The young woman, 19, was in her 2nd year of Business Administration at Unicsul. "Daniela had her whole life ahead of her and some degenerate like this comes along and ends everything," the father vented. He said his daughter liked reggae and had gone to the show with a friend.

Alexsandro Sena, 22, was also at the same show. "Nobody knows if my brother is guilty," said bus inspector Jaemerson Felix de Sena. The party, organized by the Associação Cultural do Reggae, started at 4 p.m. Five bands were scheduled to perform. The turmoil began around 8:50 p.m., when the Rio band Ponto de Equilíbrio had just finished performing. Event organizer Carlos Alfredo da Silva, or Alfredo Rasta, was on stage making final adjustments for the performance of the band Vibrações de Jah, the last to perform, when the commotion started.

"At that moment I saw a guy running after a young man," Rasta recalled, referring to Sena. Shots were heard. "He must have had some beef with the young man (Sena) and decided to settle the score in the middle of the show." Rafael Araújo Soares, 18, and João Paulo de Oliveira, 17, were also shot. The victims were taken to hospitals in the region. "We have to understand that it was an isolated incident within an event," explained delegate Nilton Quieregato, of the 22nd Police District, in São Miguel Paulista.

Silva said the event began in 1994 at his doorstep. "I always notified the Military Police and the other competent authorities," Rasta said. The shows were held every two months to mark the beginning of the region's cultural agenda.