A regional beauty pageant in Altamira, Brazil ended in tragedy after the father of one of the contestants started shooting at the judges because his daughter had only gotten fourth place.

The bizarre incident took place on July 28, after the end of the “II Baile da Escolha da Rainha” beauty pageant in the city of Altamira. About a couple of hours after the contest ended, the father of one of the participants, a local rancher identified as Sebastiao Francisco, began voicing his dissatisfaction regarding his daughter’s fourth-place finish in the competition, questioning the judges’ decision and the evaluation criteria. The venue where the beauty pageant had taken place was staffed by private security and military police, but the angry father didn’t seem to care, and at one point took out a gun and attempted to shoot at one of the judges, only to be shot at by police.

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According to witnesses, Francisco considered his daughter’s fourth-place finish in the beauty pageant as a humiliation, as he considered his offspring a “sure winner”. Dissatisfied with the judges’ explanation, he tried to take matters into his own hands but was shot before he could hurt other people. The rancher was taken to the hospital but died as a result of his wounds.

The hall in which the tragic events occurred was reportedly packed, and officers had no choice but to fire at the angry father in order to protect those present. He managed to fire a couple of shots with his revolver before being taken down and another person was injured and hospitalized.

 

An investigation into this incident is currently ongoing in order to determine whether military police could have prevented the death of the angry father.