An unknown assailant shot Brizon dead on the morning of January 16, 2018, as he drove his wife to work in the city of Cacoal in Amazonia’s Rondônia state, according to the journalist’s colleagues and news reports.
The suspect shot at the couple’s motorcycle, causing the wife, who was not hit, to fall off, Siderlandio Simões de Oliveira, the president of the local Cacoalense Press Association, told CPJ.
The attacker then shot Brizon three or four times; the journalist was dead on arrival at the hospital, according to news reports.
CPJ was unable to reach Brizon’s immediate family via Facebook or phone for comment and the officer in charge of investigating Brizon’s death did not return repeated phone calls from CPJ.
However, local news reports said police had made no arrests and were investigating all lines of inquiry.
Brizon, 35, owned and worked as the sole reporter for a news site Jornal de Rondônia, which focused mostly on local news in Cacoal, a city of around 80,000 people, de Oliveira said.
He was also a member of the Partido Humanista da Solidariedade political party and a reserve city councilman for the party. He did not hold political office.
De Oliveira and other colleagues said they did not believe Brizon had ever been threatened.