A 55-year-old defendant is set to stand trial before a panel of judges at the Vila Real Court, facing charges of attempted murder, actions preparatory to a crime of arson, explosions, and other especially dangerous conduct, as well as possession of a prohibited weapon.
The court is expected to soon schedule the start date for the trial.
The Public Prosecutor’s (MP) indictment outlines that the events date back to August 3, 2024, when a retired GNR military officer, since July 15 of the same year, entered the Chaves Traffic Post at 7:00 PM. Only one guard was on duty, and the accused fired at least 11 shots before being subdued by that same GNR officer.
The indictment describes that the defendant used an improvised mix of yellow inflammable liquid, gasoline, in several plastic and glass bottles with fuses at the neck, intending to create devices similar to what are commonly known as ‘Molotov cocktails.’
In his car, he also had items including an axe, a cleaver, a hammer, a roll of brown tape, lighters, and ammunition. Upon entering the post, he carried a revolver and a lighter.
Inside, the defendant asked the guard on duty for any notification addressed to him, requested to use the restroom, and then appeared at the office door, pointing the revolver at the officer and firing. The shot missed as the guard dropped to the ground, continuing to fire while the officer crawled to a second office door and exited through a window.
The indictment reveals that the officer returned through the door upon noticing the defendant reloading his weapon, managed to grab him, but was struck at least four times in the head. Despite this, he succeeded in taking the weapon away.
Nonetheless, the suspect used the weapon’s lanyard (an accessory that attaches the gun to the belt) in an attempt to strangle the officer, who managed to free himself and restrain the attacker until another GNR officer arrived.
The MP states that the accused fired 11 out of the 20 cartridges he carried, intending to hit the officer on duty at the post, who required medical attention in a hospital.
Further ammunition was later found at the accused’s home, of various calibers. As a GNR officer, he is exempt from having a gun permit.
The indictment states that the suspect was fully aware of the characteristics of all the objects he acquired and made, notably the handmade incendiary devices, and argues that he fired without reasonable or comprehensible motive in common sense terms.
The MP links the events to the defendant’s personal resentment towards the GNR institution and his colleagues, a motive deemed “irrelevant and trivial against the value of another human life’s worth.”
Before transitioning to reserve status, he had filed several complaints with the MP and the Guarda institution concerning the post where he served for at least 20 years, including against superiors and colleagues. He also made statements to military personnel, such as “the Chaves post will be more known than the Sanctuary of Fátima.”
The MP believes that the defendant acted freely and deliberately and was suffering from a chronic delusional disorder, although he’s considered not criminally responsible, posing a danger to himself and others.
He has been in pre-trial detention at the Tomar Military Prison Establishment since August.
