A resident of the Favela do Moinho is shot dead during a police operation

A resident of the Favela do Moinho, in central São Paulo, was shot dead during a Military Police (PM) operation in the community this Friday afternoon (12/19). According to the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), the company is on site to execute a search and seizure warrant.

“During the operation, there was an exchange of gunfire and a suspect was hit and was rescued by the fire team. The incident continues,” the ministry said early Friday evening.

The man who was shot succumbed to his injuries and died. He has been identified as Felipe Petta, alias Pode, and is a former physical education teacher.

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Felipe Petta, resident of the Favela do Moinho, in São Paulo, shot dead during a police operation. – Metropolises

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Image of the PM operation in the Favela do Moinho shared by residents on social networks

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Image of the PM operation in the Favela do Moinho shared by residents on social networks

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Image of the PM operation in the Favela do Moinho shared by residents on social networks

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Image of the PM operation in the Favela do Moinho shared by residents on social networks

Reproduction/Instagram @faveladomoinho

“Felipe Petta, our resident of the Favela do Moinho, was cowardly murdered during a new military police operation, which made our territory the theater of terror, this Friday,” published a page of local residents on Instagram.

According to the publication, Felipe had already been approached by police on the railway line bordering the favela in the early hours of December 8. On this occasion, he was allegedly attacked and his hair was shaved with a knife.

The page also disputes the SSP’s version that there was an exchange of gunfire. According to community residents, Felipe did not have a weapon and was not armed. Their family members had just left the favela.

Operation in the Favela do Moinho

Residents report that the police operation began around 4:10 p.m. this Friday. More than 10 vehicles from the Prime Minister’s shock battalion were engaged in the action.

On Instagram, local people asked for support while saying they were “besieged” by the presence of heavily armed police and sniffer dogs.

The favela, considered the last vestige of central São Paulo, was the target of action by the National Housing and Urban Development Corporation (CDHU), which evicted residents to other housing.

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Houses without windows or doors have become common in the Favela do Moinho, where 60% of families had already been evicted by September 2025.

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House without character in Favela do Moinho

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CDHU removes doors and windows, but rubble remains in empty properties in Favela do Moinho

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Rubble and trash in an unmarked house in the Favela do Moinho. Children use spaces as play areas

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Debris accumulates in places where houses were destroyed

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Favela do Moinho in September 2025, with more than 60% of families evicted

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Residents who remain in the neighborhood share streets with unmarked houses. In the image, the still occupied property has a sanctuary in front

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Empty house after the departure of the former residents

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In certain alleys, empty properties are already the majority in the Favela do Moinho

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House without windows on the street in Favela do Moinho

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The characterless house has a religious phrase painted on the wall

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Hair salon with broken wall and accumulated rubble

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A hole in the wall of the hair salon at the entrance to the Favela do Moinho is a sign of the place’s lack of character

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Clothes on hold are a “sign of life” in streets full of featureless houses

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The Favela do Moinho has around 900 families mapped by the state government

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Waste in the cabin where the collector lived in the Favela do Moinho

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House without windows in Favela do Moinho

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Broken walls on the street of Favela do Moinho next to a poster about the residents’ movement at the beginning of the year

Jessica Bernardo / Metropolis

The intention of the São Paulo government is to transform the territory where the Favela do Moinho is located into a public park, or even to build a train station.

Until September of this year, the Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) administration estimated that more than 60% of families – 537 of the 880 mapped – already owned the Moinho since the process of evicting residents began.