Leandro Lo: jiu jitsu great brain dead after São Paulo club shooting, did he survive - who is the suspect?

Leandro Lo, one of Brazil’s greatest jiu-jitsu champions of all time, has been shot in the head in a São Paulo nightclub.

According to local police, Lo was at the club when he was allegedly shot by an off-duty police officer.

Lo is one of the most successful jiu-jitsu athletes of all time, having won the World Championships eight times.

But what exactly happened to him, and has he survived the whole ordeal?

Here is everything you need to know.

What happened?

According to a police report obtained by local media, Lo was approached by an off-duty military police officer while out with friends at the Clube Sirio, a sports and social club in São Paulo’s south.

Witnesses said the officer began making threatening gestures towards Lo with a glass bottle.

The eight-time jiu-jitsu world champion used his skills to immobilise the officer, and ordered him to leave.

But the officer then allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Lo in the forehead.

Witnesses also said the aggressor kicked Lo twice on the ground after the shooting, before fleeing the scene.

The incident took place during a concert by Brazilian pop group Pixote - apparently, few people heard the gunshot as it was drowned out by the volume of the show.

Did he survive?

A number of sources are reporting that Lo has died following the incident.

Lo’s family lawyer said the Jiu Jitsu great was rushed to the hospital following the shooting, where he was declared brain dead.

His condition, according to his family, is irreversible.

Because brain death occurs when a person loses all brain function, meaning they will not be able to regain consciousness or breathe without assistance, in many countries a brain dead person is legally declared dead.

Who is the suspect?

According to the São Paulo Paulo Public Security Secretariat, a civil police officer requested the preventive detention of military officer Henrique Otávio Oliveira Velozo, who was identified as the shooter.

Velozo reportedly took a bottle of liquor from Lo’s table, prompting the jiu-jitsu practitioner to take him down and hold him.

They were separated, but Velozo rose to his feet, drew his gun, and shot Lo in the forehead.

According to local sources, Velozo was apprehended late on Sunday (7 August) afternoon, after turning himself in to Internal Affairs.

He will be detained at the Romão Gomes Prison.

Who was Leandro Lo?

Born in 1989, 33-year-old Leandro Lo (full name, Leandro Pereira do Nascimento Lo) was an eight-time world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

He had also won the World Cup, Pan American Championship and Brazilian National Jiu-Jitsu Championship titles.

From 2011 to 2013, he had an unbeaten winning streak at the Copa Podio, a high-profile international jiu-jitsu league, and his techniques earned him a reputation as one of the best pound for pound grapplers to have ever graced the mat.