Brazilian fighter and world jiu-jitsu champion Leander Lo He died at the age of 33 after being shot in the head in a Sao Paulo club allegedly by a military policeman, who turned himself in to the authorities.
The eight-time world champion of martial arts was in an irreversible state, with brain death, after being shot on Sunday “at close range” by a police officer with whom he had argued, a friend of Lo and witness to the site G1.
The alleged perpetrator of the crime, who fled the place where the events occurred, appeared at a Military Police headquarters hours later and was detained preventively, sources from the Sao Paulo Civil Police confirmed to G1.
the body of Lo He will be buried this Monday in a cemetery in the south of the São Paulo capital.
Fatima Lo, the athlete’s mother, said that the policeman knew her son. “That person knew him, because he also practices jiu-jitsu (…) He went there for that (to kill him), without a doubt, but we don’t know why,” she told Globo TV.
The events that led to Lo’s death
According to the account of the relative of Lothe discussion was triggered after the policeman took a bottle from the table where he was sitting with his friends, during a musical show in a sports and social club in the Brazilian metropolis.
After an alleged provocation, Lo he immobilized the policeman “to calm him down” and when he was leaving, he turned around and shot him “at close range.”
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The International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) lamented the death of the fighter on social networks: “He was one of the greatest athletes that our sport has produced. An example of an athlete (…) a champion inside and outside the tatamis.”
With roots in Japanese judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu developed in the South American country in the early 20th century and is one of the most popular full-contact sports, ranking prominently in mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions.
