On November 3, 1999, a mass murder occurred inside a movie theater room at the Morumbi shopping mall in São Paulo, Brazil. The perpetrator, Mateus da Costa Meira, then a 24-year-old medical student, killed three people that were in the room and injured another four. Meira was initially sentenced to a 120-year imprisonment, a term that was later reduced to 48 years. After he attempted to kill another prison inmate, it was determined in 2011 that he had to be moved to a psychiatric hospital, where he remains to this day. He is known in Brazil as the "shopping mall shooter" or the "cinema shooter". The screen in which the shooting occurred was permanently closed. The cinema closed its three remaining screens in 2012, freeing up space for new stores at the mall.
Perpetrator's background
In November 1999, Mateus da Costa Meira lived alone in an apartment in São Paulo and studied medicine at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of São Paulo's Holy House, a well-regarded institution; he was in his sixth and last year, only 15 days from graduating. His wealthy family lived in Salvador, his hometown, and Mateus regularly received money from his parents in order to live a comfortable life. He played "violent" video games and owned a vast collection of illegally-copied software. He was known to send viruses and pornography to users of internet provider Magiclink in Salvador since January 1997. He was described as shy, introverted and apathetic and had a poor academic performance. He has schizoid personality disorder. After refusing to do mandatory work at the medical school, he was sent to the institution's psychology division. By other sources, however, he was described as a gentile, calm person who changed his personality months before the attack and started to skip classes and get closer to drug traffickers. Prior to the massacre, he already owned a pistol, but chose to obtain a more powerful weapon: a MAC-11 submachine gun, which he acquired illegally from Marcos Paulo Almeida dos Santos for R$ 5,000. Meira said he employed Santos as a driver since he did not know how to drive the mechanic car his insurance company gave him following a crash that destroyed his automatic Chrysler Neon. The police investigated him for two additional crimes: drug possession and CD falsification. In his apartment, they found equipment for CD piracy, cocaine, crack and ammo. Meira told the police that he had been planning the attack for seven years and that he chose Fight Club because the main character suffers from schizophrenia.
The crime
Meira entered room number 5 of the movie theater at Morumbi Shopping at around 10:10 p.m. of November 3, 1999, approximately 55 minutes after the movie, Fight Club, had started. He watched the movie for 15 minutes and then went to the toilet, where he shot the mirror with his submachine gun. Back in the theater room, he stayed in front of the screen and shot to the ceiling, but that did not scare viewers since they believed it was an effect from the movie. He then shot against one of the walls, causing frightened viewers to hide behind seats. He subsequently aimed and shot at a group of people, three of which died. As he tried to reload the gun, one of the viewers stopped him. The shooting lasted about 3 minutes.
Casualties
One victim died at the scene and two more in local hospitals.
Hermè Luisa Jatobá Vadasz, 46 years old, employee at Young & Rubican publicity agency. Her heart was donated to a patient at a local public hospital.
Caught in the act, Meira was sentenced to 120 and a half years in prison. His defenders alleged that he was only semi-imputable because of his mental issues. His sentence was later reduced to 48 years and 9 months by the State Court of São Paulo. He stayed at Carandiru Penitentiary until its deactivation in 2002 and was then moved to a penitentiary in Tremembé. Later, in 2009, he was moved to a penitentiary in Salvador, his home town, following requests by his family. On May 8, 2009, Meira tried to kill a cell mate, the 68-year-old Spaniard Francisco Vidal Lopes, with scissors, apparently because the television's volume was too loud. He was put into trial but absolved later in 2011 since he was not considered imputable anymore due to his mental diagnosis. It was decided that he had to be moved to the Hospital of Treatment and Custody in Salvador, where he remains to this day.
