Shocking footage captured the moment a 59-year-old man armed to the teeth with explosives blew himself up at the Supreme Court in Brazil on Wednesday ahead of the G20 summit.
A surveillance camera showed a former liberal city council candidate Francisco Wanderley approaching the Statue of Justice and throwing an object at it.
A Judicial Police agent then confronted Wanderley and stopped him before he tossed an explosive toward the Supreme Court building.
Wanderley then lit a device, which exploded and knocked him to the ground, instantly killing him as security agents rushed to the scene.
The military found two bombs on his belt and a clocked strapped to his body and recovered another explosive next to his remains.
Just moments before he blew himself up, a vehicle registered under his name exploded at a parking lot next to the Chamber of Deputies, Santa Catarina chief delegate Ulisses Gabriel confirmed.
The Federal Police have declared the two explosions an act of terrorism, the agency’s director-general Andreis Rodrigues said.
Several explosives remained on the grounds of the Supreme Court and were detonated by a bomb squad in Thursday morning.
Wanderley ran for city council under the Liberal Party ticket in 2020 in Rio do Sul, a city in the southern state of Santa Catarina, but lost as he only picked up 98 votes.
His brother, Rogélio, told G1 that he was single and employed as a locksmith. He was a father of two children, ages 37 and 38, from his relationship with his former wife.
Santa Catarina Congressman Jorge Goetten was stunned by Wanderley’s attack and recalled meeting him in 2023.
‘He was a great friend, a dear, good person. He was a businessman in my field, in events. His family is a good one in Rio do Sul,’ Goetten said, as quoted by Brazilian news outlet Metropoles.
‘Last year I met him in my office, and I was happy to welcome him. We chatted and exchanged good memories of Rio do Sul,’ he added.
‘But he seemed a little shaken. Apparently, he had mental health problems, emotionally shaken. He talked about his separation from his wife. … We weren’t close enough for him to talk the way he did.’
Just hours before the attack, Wanderley posted a series of concerning messages that he sent to himself on WhatsApp and then shared on social media.
‘Shall we play??? Federal Police, you have 72 hours to disarm the bomb that is in the house of those shitty communists,’ he wrote.
One of the posts targeted former President Jair Bolsonaro and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
‘Bolsonaro and Lula, if you love Brazil, step away from public life!’ he wrote. ‘Enough polarization, this is the moment for you to prove who you are. The people are one people.’
He also posted multiple messages warning of an impending attack without providing the location.
‘Be careful when opening drawers, cabinets, shelves, material storage, etc,’ one of the posts read.
In another he appeared to provide the time at which the bombs would go off.
‘Start: 5:48 pm on 11/13/2024. The game ends on 11/16/2024. Good luck!’ he wrote.
He revealed in another message why he was choosing November 13 as the day to carry out the attack.
‘Just set off some fireworks to celebrate the 13th. I don’t like the number 13. It smells like carrion, just like a dog when it dies,’ he wrote.