Policemen are quick to tell you their jobs
aren't as exciting as they seem in the movies. In real life, cops aren't like John McClane in t
he Die Hard series - walking on broken glass with bare feet, lighting a stream of jet fuel to blow up a plane, flipping a car to take out a helicopter. It's mostly paperwork. But a movie where John McClane just does paperwork wouldn't be very good. Nobody does paperwork and says "Yippee-ki-yay motherf----r!"
But sometimes cops get to do things that are
undeniably badass. And what could be more badass than shooting two robbers with one hand, while your holding your baby boy with the other? It's a striking image, like something you'd see in a Hollywood blockbuster.
It happened on a Saturday afternoon, at a pharmacy in Campo Limpo Paulista, Brazil. Off-duty military officer Sgt. Rafael Souza stopped inside with his wife and son to buy medicine. While the clerk was helping his wife, two hooded, gun-wielding robbers stormed in the business, and announced they were performing a robbery.
One of the suspects - Jefferson Alves, 24 - pointed his gun at Souza, at which point Souza drew his own weapon. According to the police report, he identified himself as a cop, and then shot Alves in retaliation, while still clutching his son with one arm.
Surveillance video captured the dramatic incident and it's
available to watch here, and in the embed below, but be warned, it may be distressing for some viewers.
[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLDEPUMoJAU]]
The footage shows Souza firing at the first suspect, Alves. Then he disappears from frame, and we see his wife crouching in the aisle, taking cover, with her hands over ears. Then she reaches out desperately for her child.
After a harrowing moment, Souza pops back into frame, and hands the baby to his mother. Then he shifts his attention to the other suspect, Italo Creato, 22, who is at the other end of the store. He runs off camera, and reportedly fires at Creato. Paramedics arrived to attend to Creato and Alves, but they were both pronounced dead at the scene.
We shouldn't glorify this incident too much, because two young men did lose their lives. A death sentence is harsh punishment for a robbery. But was it just a robbery? Wasn't it also attempted murder? You can't blame Sgt. Souza for acting the way he did. He was in the store with his wife, holding his baby son in his arms, and two robbers burst in, waving guns at him. What would you do? It makes sense he'd take dramatic action, and do whatever it takes to protect his family. In the YouTube comments, some users have called him a hero.
I guess this is what separates real life from the movies - the consequences of life and death. Still, it's hard to watch an action-packed video like this and not think of those badass cops in the movies. If there was ever a chance to say "Yippee-ki-yay motherf----r!" - this is it.
