Killer Cop Wanted in Brazil for Student’s Execution Turns Up in Florida 10 Years Later

A fugitive Brazilian cop who fled the country after being convicted of murder for executing a young law student outside a nightclub, has been arrested in Florida after a decade on the run—and five years after the victim’s mom tracked him down on social media.

Omar Assaf Júnior, 42, was taken into custody Tuesday by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to extradition filings obtained by The Daily Beast. Assaf, a former state police officer in the city of São José dos Pinhais, was found guilty of pumping three fatal bullets into 19-year-old Thiago Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa, while off-duty.

Sentenced by a judge in Brazil to 16 years in prison, Assaf vanished and has instead spent the past 10 years living openly in the Kissimmee area, where he worked for his uncle’s maintenance company and ran his own furniture and decor business.

Assaf’s capture marks the close of an infamous homicide that came to be known in Brazil as the “Massacre do Bar Harmonia,” for the name of the spot where Assaf shot Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa died in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

The Assaf saga can be traced back to the night of Aug. 16, 2009, when he went to Bar Harmonia in Curitiba’s Bigorrilho neighborhood, with a female friend.

Assaf brought his department-issued Taurus PT semi-automatic handgun to the bar, referred to as “Clube Harmonia” in U.S. court papers, which security stored for him in a safe while he was inside.At some point during the evening, Assaf’s friend said an acquaintance of hers, Diego Targino Marchiore, tried to attack her dance partner. Assaf stepped in and physically subdued Targino Marchiore with an armlock before security guards ejected the troublemaker from the premises, according to a memorandum filed by U.S. prosecutors in Orlando federal court.

Outside, Targino Marchiore began to argue with one of the bouncers. Targino Marchiore threw a punch, and the bouncer drew a gun, a witness later testified.

Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa and his friends were also outside the bar while Targino Marchiore and the bouncer started to tussle. They had been asked to leave after one member of the group allegedly “tampered with a lock on one of the bar’s refrigerators,” the prosecutors’ memorandum states.

Targino Marchiore, who was not connected in any way to Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa, was “bleeding and bruised,” one of Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa’s friends who was there, Wesley De Souza Jaques Pereira, said in court. Sensing trouble, Jaques Pereira suggested the group leave, and they started walking towards a nearby building where one of them lived, the memorandum continues.

Suddenly, they heard gunshots, according to Jaques Pereira.

“After hearing the shots, Jaques Pereira, Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa, and another friend headed towards their car,” the memorandum explains. “As they were approaching the car, Assaf appeared and began shooting. The three men, including the victim, started running.”

Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa was “lagging behind him and their other friend,” Jaques Pereira would later testify. That’s when Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa yelled out that he had been shot and needed help, the memorandum states.

“Jaques Pereira attempted to return to help Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa, but Assaf began shooting in his direction,” it goes on. “Jaques Pereira then hid. Shortly thereafter, Jaques Pereira heard two more gunshots. After some time passed, Jaques Pereira and his friends went to Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa in [an] attempt to rescue him, but he was already deceased.”

Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa was shot in the legs, chest, and head, with one of the bullets having been fired at point-blank range, according to Brazilian authorities.

Jaques Pereira testified in court that Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa “bore a resemblance” to Targino Marchiore, only learning later that Targino Marchiore had been in an earlier fight inside with one of Assaf’s friends. He said on the stand that he believed Assaf had confused the two, thinking in fact Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa was Targino Marchiore, the U.S. prosecutors’ memorandum states. In his own testimony, Targino Marchiore also said he looked similar to Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa.

An eyewitness who lived nearby heard the gunshots and immediately called the police, according to the memorandum. While she was on the phone, one of the woman’s sons looked out the window and observed Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa lying on the ground, crying out for help.

The two then saw Assad approach Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa, who had been wounded by the first shot. According to the memorandum, they heard him say, “Now you will see, man. It’s the police. Hands on your head.”

As he struggled to sit up, Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa said to Assaf, “For the love of God, man, don’t kill me,” the memorandum states.

“The man fired two shots at [Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa], hitting his face and abdomen,” the filing continues.

The eyewitness then watched Assad walk away, talking on his cellphone.

“It’s all fucked, dude, it’s all fucked,” he allegedly said to the person on the other end of the line.

Numerous other witnesses in the area came forward to finger Assaf as the shooter, according to prosecutors.

Brazilian investigators arrived on the scene, but Assaf was nowhere to be found. Later, he showed up at a Paraná State Police facility and handed over his service weapon. However, the gun’s magazine and ammunition had been removed, leading officials to suspect Assaf of concealing evidence.

In September 2009, prosecutors in Brazil charged Assaf with aggravated homicide for Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa’s killing.

Assaf’s trial began in July 2012, and in November 2013, a jury found him guilty. The judge sentenced Assaf, who had been freed on bail, to 16 years behind bars.

But once again, Assaf had disappeared.

“The feeling is of partial justice,” Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa’s father, Thomaz Pessoa, told Gazeta do Povo. “The family would like him to spend the rest of his life paying for what he did, because he executed my son with cruelty.”

Five years went by, and Assaf seemed to be gone without a trace—until 2017, when Klemtz de Abreu Pessoa’s mother, Patricia Klemtz, spotted him on social media. He was posting on Instagram under the screenname “@johnny_insta,” an account which is now locked. She also saw that Assad was listed in state incorporation records as a director of a company called Paraná Services, an entity owned by Assad’s uncle Waldomiro.

That same year, Interpol posted a Red Notice for Assaf’s arrest.

“What makes me indignant is that my son’s murderer is living free in Florida, and justice in Brazil remains slow,” Klemtz told Brazilian newspaper Jornal Nossa Gente last year. “This is outrageous, my son’s death will not go unpunished.”

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Orlando remanded Assaf to jail pending an extradition hearing. His court-appointed lawyer, Karla Mariel Reyes, did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.

Assaf is due back in court on August 31.