Civil police detectives in Rio de Janeiro are investigating the fatal shooting of military firefighter Pedro Ernesto dos Anjos Rodrigues, 24, and his partner, 26-year-old medical student Pedro Henrique Araújo. The two men were tracked by car, cornered, and abducted by armed assailants during a violent ambush in the municipality of Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense metropolitan area.

The victims were intercepted as they drove toward the residence in the São Bento neighborhood where they had been living together for approximately five months. The specialized homicide division Delegacia de Homicídios da Baixada Fluminense initiated a formal inquiry to determine the exact circumstances of the ambush and identify everyone involved in the shooting.

Security cameras record nighttime interception and car pursuit in Duque de Caxias

Investigators established that the assault began as Pedro Ernesto and Pedro Henrique departed from the firefighter’s mother’s home and realized that a trailing car was tracking their movements. During the pursuit, the medical student managed to telephone a relative to report the unfolding danger, desperately stating they were being followed before the phone call abruptly disconnected. Surveillance camera recordings later captured the moment when the gunmen blocked the path of the victims’ automobile and subdued both occupants, with footage indicating that at least one of the young men was forced into the attackers’ vehicle.

Patrol officers subsequently located the victims with multiple bullet wounds in an isolated wooded area on Rua João Raimundo, in the Pantanal neighborhood, adjacent to the Sossego and Cacareco communities. When military police inspected the couple’s automobile, they found a 9 mm pistol registered under the firefighter’s name resting unfired beneath the seat with 15 live rounds still inside the magazine. Forensics specialists recovered numerous spent shell casings across the scene to trace the ballistic signatures of the weapons used by the perpetrators.

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Summary of evidence and forensic findings in the Baixada Fluminense homicide

• Victims: Military firefighter Pedro Ernesto dos Anjos Rodrigues, 24, and medical student Pedro Henrique Araújo, 26
• Location: Pantanal neighborhood near Sossego and Cacareco communities in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro
• Recovered firearm: One registered 9 mm caliber handgun belonging to the soldier, containing 15 unfired rounds
• Investigating division: Delegacia de Homicídios da Baixada Fluminense (DHBF)

Detailed timeline from the armed car interception to family funeral rites

• September 23, 2026, 10:15 p.m. — Armed gunmen intercept the couple’s vehicle after a car chase through Duque de Caxias
• September 24, 2026, early morning — Military police units discover the bodies of both victims bearing fatal gunshot wounds in Pantanal
• September 25, 2026, afternoon — Firefighter Pedro Ernesto is buried at Memorial do Rio cemetery in northern Rio de Janeiro

Investigators review family inheritance claims as fire department mourns soldier

Following forensic examinations, Pedro Ernesto was buried at the Memorial do Rio cemetery in the Cordovil neighborhood of northern Rio de Janeiro, while Pedro Henrique’s remains were transported to the state of Espírito Santo for burial. Detectives noted that the wooded sector where the bodies were abandoned has long been subject to territorial presence by the criminal faction Terceiro Comando Puro. The firefighter’s mother, Cíntia Souza dos Anjos, publicly stated in an interview that she suspects a dispute over family inheritance involving a half-brother may have motivated the targeted killings, a theory now under active analysis by civil police.

During the memorial services, Cíntia Souza dos Anjos defended the character of her son and expressed grief over the sudden loss. “My son was an excellent person at work, as a son, and as a friend; nobody has anything bad to say about him because he was truly wonderful,” she stated before gathered colleagues and relatives.

The command of Corpo de Bombeiros Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro released an official communiqué expressing deep regret over the death of the active-duty soldier. “The Military Fire Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro expresses its solidarity with the family and friends of the soldier, as well as with the family of his partner, who was also a victim of this tragedy,” the institution declared in a statement honoring his service.

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Homicide detectives from the DHBF continue to examine surveillance recordings and forensic material under procedural secrecy as they work to identify the gunmen who executed the ambush. The police agency has not yet officially confirmed whether the family’s inheritance theory represents the verified motive behind the double killing.