The family of a trans woman who was beaten and shot dead in a sickening homophobic attack has paid tribute after the "very cruel lynching."
Dandara dos Santos begged for her life as she was dragged from her home and dumped in a wheelbarrow before being rolled to a back alley and shot dead amid cheers and laughter.
Two men suspected of shooting Dandara, 42, and three teenagers that allegedly appeared in a sickening video of the attack have been arrested. A sixth suspect is still on the run.
Dandara's mother, Francisca Ferreira, spoke about the moment she found out her daughter had been attacked.
She said: "I was very desperate. Crying and asking God what had happened. What did this boy do, my God?
"I became so crazy I could not believe it if there was a fight or not."
Dandara's sister, Sonia Maria, said her sister was selfless and was always going out her way to help people - but she said she was always a victim of prejudice.
She said: "She never said no. She could be tired, but she was always helpful.
"Wherever we asked her to go, she would. She never said no.Officers raided homes in the Bom Jardim neighbourhood in Trairi, Brazil, today, where they arrested five men.
One of them has been identified as the man who filmed the attack - who is also suspected of drug trafficking, and was already known to the police.
In horrific footage, released by police, terrified Dandara is seen crying on the ground as she is kicked, punched and hit with shoes, stones and a plank of wood in front of residents in Fortaleza,in the state of Ceara.
She begs the savage attackers to spare her life but they simply lift her into a wheelbarrow and roll her away to a back alley where she is shot dead.
The person filmed the clip is heard saying in Portuguese "they will kill the faggot" and laughing while the attackers make cruel taunts about her hormone-therapy induced breasts and hurl homophobic insults.
One witness, who wished to remain anonymous, described the crime as a "very cruel lynching."
They told globo.com : "It was several guys. One was kicking and another a rock. Another hit and another hit with a stick on her head "
They said they called police twice during the attack, but they didn't come until it was too late.
The Secretariat of Security said that they couldn't trace the number of the caller and therefore couldn't confirm if the information about the delay is true.The video was initially circulated online by LGBT groups in a desperate bid to raise awareness about the huge number of attacks against trans and gender diverse people in Brazil.
The secretary of Public Security and Social Defense of Ceará, André Costa said today: "After the assaults, they took (Dandara) to another place, near where the images were made.
"As seen in the images, she was brutally, cowardly, murdered by a firearm shot."
Police Inspector Damasceno who is investigating the death said yesterday: "The footage was first circulated among LGBT groups which helped that process.
"The police began circulating the clip and we arrived at the house of two of the people identified but they fled.
"The investigation is already well advanced and we are going after the killers."
The attack on February 15 is one of the latest in a sickening trend in Brazil for targeting transsexuals and transvestites.
According to Brazil's Trans Network, Dandara was the fifth to be murdered last month.
The government of Ceara released a statement condemning the killings warning that attackers will be punished.
They said: "The Government of Ceara hereby expresses its deepest condemnation of acts of violence and intolerance as what was practiced against Dandara dos Santos, killed by brutal beating."
There have been 2,016 reported killings of trans and gender diverse people in 65 countries worldwide between 2008 and 2015.
More than 1,500 of these deaths were reported in Central and South America, according to Transgender Murder Monitoring project.
Between October 2015 and September 2016 in Brazil alone 123 trans and gender-variant people were murdered.
Within the same period, 295 were murdered across the world.
Thirty were reported to be 21 years old or younger, with some as young as 14.
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