Police Say He Tried To Crash The Plane Into A Shopping Center

A Brazilian man sought by officials on rape charges last week forced his wife out of a moving car after a heated argument, and drove off with his five-year-old daughter. Heading to a local airport, the man commandeered a sight-seeing flight at gunpoint, and proceeded to fly the plane for about an hour before fatally crashing near a busy shopping center.

Reuters reports the man was identified by Goiania Police as Kleber Barbosa Da Silva, 31. He was wanted on charges of raping a 13-year-old girl earlier in the week. Police reported Da Silva had an argument with his wife as they drove along in the family car last Thursday. He then forced his wife out of the moving car, and sped off with their young daughter.

Stopping at an airport in nearby Luziania, Da Silva hired a pilot for a sight-seeing flight. Commandeering the airplane at gunpoint, he forced the pilot out of the plane as it sat on the runway. Taking the controls himself, Da Silva flew the single-engine, low-wing aircraft over the city for nearly an hour before eventually crashing in a shopping center parking lot.

Police commander Manoel Borges led the investigation of the incident. "By our reading of what happened and his psychological state, we are convinced that his intention was to smash into the shopping center," he said. The plane narrowly missed the shopping center but damaged over a dozen parked cars.

Da Silva and his daughter were fatally injured, but reportedly no one on the ground was hurt. Businessman Agner Rodrigues da Costa told Globo News Service, “I avoided being killed by a second. My car would have been there underneath.”

FMI: www.pm.go.gov.br/2008/english