Marco Jara. Photo: Carlos Ozório

On a mournful Christmas for martial arts world, coach Marco Jara was murdered in Rio de Janeiro, on the 24^th of December, as he traveled to Angra dos Reis with a friend. After stopping at the side of the highway to retrieve an object from the trunk of the car, which belonged to his friend actor Luciano Szafir, they were held at gunpoint. Jara tried to react and ended up being shot and killed, while his friend, who was shot, too, was thrown from the car, and survived.

Police from the region arrested a 17-year-old in a bus, at the exit of the favela in Rio’s Western zone, who confessed to the crime. According to Commissioner Jose de Moraes Ferreira, in an article on the G1 website, through their investigations the police were led to the minor, who confessed to having been with another teenager on the day of the crime. Another suspect had been arrested before, but turned out only to be the recipient of the objects stolen from the victims.

The minor was sent to the Children and Teenager Protection Station in Downtown Rio, and will appear before the courts this Thursday.