A man killed himself with an explosive device outside of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Tribunal’s (STF) on Wednesday evening in what Brazilian police have described as a suicide attack.
Brazilian police identified the man as Francisco Wanderley Luiz, a 59-year-old man and locksmith by trade colloquially referred to as “Tiu França.” Luiz unsuccessfully ran for councilor in the 2020 local elections as a candidate for the Liberal Party (PL).
The man reportedly attempted to break into the STF building, killing himself by setting off an explosive attached to the back of his neck after he failed to enter the building.
According to initial reports, two explosions detonated at around 07:30 p.m. local time. The first explosion came from a vehicle in a parking lot near the STF building and the second one occurred about 20 seconds later, killing the suspected assailant. Other than Wanderley Luiz, the attack caused no other casualties. The vehicle where the first explosives detonated was registered under Luiz’s name.
The Brazilian outlet Metropoles published footage of the incident on Thursday morning obtained from an STF security camera. In the video, Wanderley Luiz is seen outside of the STF before opening what appeared to be a backpack, from where he pulled objects that he threw at the statue outside of the building. According to testimony from an STF security guard, the object thrown at the statue was a shirt.
STF security officials approach the man before Wanderley Luiz threw an artifact at the statue and moved away from the guard. Wanderley Luiz then appeared to throw a fiery object in the direction of the building. Seconds later, Wanderley Luiz set off another such object and lay on the ground after apparently self-detonating.
The incident is being investigated by the Brazilian Federal Police as a terrorist attack. Officials from the Brazilian Military Police deactivated four other suspicious objects near the man’s corpse in the early hours of Thursday morning. Military Police also raided the man’s home finding booby traps with bombs, one of which reportedly went off.
The Brazilian top court is located in the capital city of Brasilia at the Three Powers Plaza, sharing its space with the Brazilian Congress and Presidential Planalto Palace. At the time of the incident, both chambers of the Brazilian Congress were in session. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had left the presidential palace for the day.
Police reports further stated that the man shared messages via the WhatsApp messaging platform in which he announced his intention to “commit self-extermination and carry out a bomb attack against people and institutions.”
Metropoles reported on Thursday morning that Wanderley Luiz posted messages on WhatsApp critical of both Lula and former President Jair Bolsonaro and had issued messages calling for both to “step away from public life.” He allegedly claimed he chose November 13 to carry out the attack because the number 13 is used to identify the ruling leftist Worker’s Party (PT) in local elections.
In one such message, Metropoles stated, Wanderley Luiz allegedly wrote, “Be careful when opening drawers, cabinets, shelves, material storage, etc,” followed with “Start: 5:48 pm on 11/13/2024. The game ends on 11/16/2024. Good luck!”
According to local outlets, Wanderley Luiz published a video on his TikTok account alluding to the impending attack with explosives.
Daniela Lima, a woman who identified herself as Wanderley Luiz’s ex-wife, reportedly told the police on Thursday morning that the man allegedly “wanted to kill STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes and whoever else was with him at the time of the attack.”
STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes announced on Thursday morning that the Brazilian top court will open an inquiry over the incident with him as its rapporteur.
De Moraes asserted that Wednesday’s suicide attack was not an “isolated incident” and that, as a result, its investigation will be tied to an open inquiry into “anti-democratic militias” related to the events of January 8, 2023, when thousands of protesters stormed the premises of the nation’s Congress, Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), and the Planalto presidential palace.
“This is a crime, this is not freedom of expression. This is not freedom of expression anywhere in the world, it is a crime. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has already filed more than 600,000 complaints,” de Moraes said. “It is necessary for the authorities to unite in the constant defense of democracy and in holding all those who attempt against democracy fully accountable.”
De Moraes also claimed on Thursday that the attack shows the need for national pacification, but stressed that it will not be achieved by granting amnesty to the more than 250 men and women convicted for their participation in the January 8 riot.
“We cannot ignore what happened yesterday. And the Public Prosecutor’s Office is a very important institution, it has been doing very important work in combating this extremism that unfortunately was born and grew in Brazil in current times,” de Moraes said. “We need to continue fighting this.”
At press time, no Brazilian authority has clarified if there is any relationship between the bombing and the January 8 riot. Celina Leão, interim governor of Brazil’s Federal District, told reporters that the current hypothesis is that Francisco Wanderley Luiz acted alone as a “lone wolf.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here
