RIO DE JANEIRO – A soldier with Brazil’s Presidential Guard unit who was guarding Jaburu Palace, the official residence of the country’s vice president, died Wednesday of a single gunshot inside the sentry booth where he was working, authorities said.
The soldier, whose identity was not released, was killed by a single bullet about 9:30 a.m. while inside one of the sentry boxes located outside the vice presidential complex, some 300 meters (yards) from the palace, according to a communique issued by the Planalto Military Command.
The command, which is responsible for the Presidential Guard unit and Brazil’s military barracks, said that the circumstances surrounding the soldier’s death were not yet known and it refrained from commenting on whether it was suicide or homicide.
The command said only that the Military Police had opened an investigation to clarify the facts surrounding the death and that it will have 30 days to conclude that investigation and issue its report.
The incident occurred just a few minutes after Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer routinely and temporarily took over as acting head of state because of President Dilma Rousseff’s trip to Russia to participate in the 7th Summit of the BRICS, the forum comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Jaburu Palace – located near Lake Paranoa and a deserted area between Planalto Palace, the headquarters of the executive branch, and Alvorada, the president’s official residence – was designed by the late architect Oscar Niemeyer and inaugurated in 1977.
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