According to their daughter Renata, who spoke with Brazil’s G1 news site, the Murmuras were requested directions to Quintino Bocaiuva Avenue – but the app directed them instead to Rau Quintino Bocaviba, which runs through the Caramujo favela.
Advertisement
Regina Murmura, 70, and husband Francisco, 69, had been reportedly attempting to visit a beach in Niteroi, Rio – when they accidentally took a wrong turn into the Carumujo favela on Saturday after using navigation app Waze.
If it’s a matter of human error, and the couple typed the wrong address into a navigation system, it seems inaccurate to blame the app, unless we expect mapping apps to warn us when we’re entering unsafe areas.
There, Regina Murmura was shot as someone fired 20 bullets into the couple’s auto, police say.
Police believed the traffickers who carried out the shooting worked under Rodrigo da Silva Rodrigues, known as Tineném, one of the most violent drug lords in the city.
Mr Murmura, who was not injured in the attack, managed to drive them away and take his wife of almost 50 years to hospital, but she died after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was not hospitalized.
In a statement, Google-owned Waze said it was “incredibly saddened” by the incident and added: “Unfortunately it’s hard to prevent drivers from navigating to a risky neighbourhood if it’s the destination they select”.
“Citizens who reside in these areas need to be able to get home”.
In the city of Rio alone, about 1.4 million people live in favelas – or about a fifth of the population.
The Post reports that Waze officials are meeting with authorities in Rio to discuss the risks of “driving in the city”. She was shot at, but survived.
In response to the latest Niteroi incident, police had a shootout with gang members in Caramujo on Monday, the police spokesman said.
Advertisement
The gang is also suspected of killing a resident a fortnight ago, and was said to be behind the recent disappearance of another elderly couple.
