(WSVN) - An armed, off-duty Brazilian military police officer is being hailed as a hero after surveillance video showed her stopping a gunman as he tried to rob several families during a school’s Mother’s Day event.
Katie da Silva Sastre, 42, was attending a Mother’s Day party with her daughter at a Sao Paulo private school on Saturday when the gunman, identified as 21-year-old Elivelton Neves Moreira, tried to rob a group of women and children at gunpoint.
Security camera footage showed Sastre pulling out her own pistol and shooting Moreira three times in his chest, Fox News reports. As he fell backward onto the street, Sastre kicked his gun out of reach.
Fui hoje cedo ao 4°BAEP , na zona Leste de São Paulo, para homenagear uma mãe muito especial: Cabo Katia Sastre. Sua coragem e precisão salvou mães e crianças, ontem na porta de uma escola. #PMSP #PoliciaMilitar #VcPodeConfiar #EstadodeSãoPaulo #GovernodeSP pic.twitter.com/Vi643s1M3e
— Márcio França (@marciofrancasp) May 13, 2018
“I didn’t know if he was going to shoot the kids or the mothers or the security guard at the school door,” she said. “I just thought about defending the moms, the children, my own life and my daughter’s.”
Moreira later died from his injuries.
Sao Paulo Governor Marcio Franca visited Sastre at her police station on Sunday and honored her for her actions.
“Her courage and precision saved mothers and children, yesterday at the door of a school,” Franca wrote on Twitter.
Watch the security video below (warning: images may be disturbing for some viewers):
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