Family and friends of Heleno Veggi Dumbá gathered, on the morning of this Easter Sunday (31/3), to say their last goodbye to the 35-year-old doctor from Minas Gerais, victim of an attempted robbery in São Paulo (SP), on the night of that Friday (29/3). The body will be buried this afternoon in Muriaé, in Zona da Mata Mineira, the psychiatrist’s hometown.
The funeral ceremony began at 10 am, at the Senhor do Bonfim cemetery. The burial was scheduled for 4pm, at the Jardim da Paz cemetery, in the same municipality. Heleno was found dead inside his own car, parked on a street in Brasilândia, in the north of São Paulo, the city where he had lived for years.
Through social media, Heleno’s family asked those present at the funeral to attend dressed in black, as a way of expressing their indignation at the tragic event that took the doctor’s life. “Whoever can wear black to express our sadness over a senseless crime,” wrote Heleno’s father on social media.
The investigations into the case, conducted by the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat (SSP-SP), are ongoing and, at the time of writing this article, no one had been arrested.
Minas Gerais doctor dies in attempted robbery
According to the SSP-SP, the Military Police were called at around 9:44 pm and found the victim already dead inside the vehicle. Wanted by the news report State of Minasthe agency, however, did not detail the dynamics and motivation of the crime.
According to the Police Report, witnesses reportedly saw three armed men approach the doctor, shortly after he parked on Rua Pedro Pomar. The suspects fled on foot, taking only Heleno’s car keys. The victim’s cell phone and other personal belongings were seized, and forensics were called.
The case was registered as a robbery – robbery resulting in death – by the 72nd Police District of Vila Penteado.
‘Love scam’
The police’s main suspicion is that Heleno was attracted to the place through a meeting arranged on dating apps and was a victim of the so-called “love scam”, a crime that consists of using false identities to attract people and, in then earn money through theft, fraud or extortion.
The authorities even admitted to the Folha de São Paulo report that the place where the victim was found is known to be used by criminals for this type of crime, false encounters via the app.
(With information from Folhapress)
