It was an ordinary morning for Kátia da Silva Sastre. The 42-year-old military police officer was off duty and waiting with her 7-year-old daughter in front of Ferreira Master School in Suzano, Brazil. She had gone to take part in a Mother’s Day celebration with other families.
Then an armed man appeared.
Security cameras captured the moment when 21-year-old Elivelton Neves Moreira approached the group with a .38-caliber revolver and began threatening the mothers and children waiting in front of the entrance. Several people backed away and tried to get to safety.
Kátia, however, was carrying her service weapon.
Within seconds, the police officer drew her pistol and fired three times at the assailant. The man fell to the ground, and Kátia approached to move his weapon away and keep him restrained until help arrived. He was taken alive to Santa Casa de Suzano, but later died from his injuries.
The security camera footage showed the entire scene and quickly began circulating online. The images show the man pointing his weapon at the group before Kátia intervened.
After the incident, Kátia explained that at the time she did not know what the assailant was going to do. As she recounted it, she thought he might shoot any of the mothers, the children, or the guard who was at the entrance.
“I only thought about defending the mothers, the children, my own life, and my daughter’s”, she later explained.
The scene took place on May 12, 2018, one day before Mother’s Day in Brazil. And the next day, as footage of the intervention began to become known, Kátia received an official tribute.
The then-governor of São Paulo, Márcio França, received her at a ceremony and presented her with a bouquet of flowers. Kátia was the mother of two girls and had been completely off duty when she decided to intervene.
The story ended up going around the world precisely because of that contrast: Kátia had arrived at the school as just another mother, accompanying her daughter to a celebration. Minutes later, cameras showed her confronting an armed man who had threatened the families waiting at the entrance.