If you train BJJ, you know the name Leandro Lo. Eight-time world champion. One of the greatest to ever touch a mat. The kind of athlete people call a once-in-a-generation talent.

But more than that? Lo was loved. Calm. Friendly. Humble. The guy who made everyone feel welcome — even when he was smashing them in the gym.

And in August 2022, he was killed with a single shot to the head inside a crowded nightclub.

Three years later, the man who pulled the trigger — military police officer Henrique Otávio Oliveira Velozo — walked out of court a free man.

Let’s break down how something this insane actually happened.

Lo wasn’t just a champion—he was the champion.

And off the mats? Always smiling. Always calm. Never the guy picking fights. Never the guy causing trouble.

This wasn’t a reckless athlete. This was a respected leader in the community.

On August 7th, 2022, Lo went to a concert with friends.

He never made it home.

Here’s the simplified version—the one multiple witnesses confirmed:

Witnesses also reported he kicked Lo twice while he was unconscious on the floor.

Then? He fled.

Hours later, after the story exploded across Brazil, he turned himself in. Everyone expected a conviction. It looked like textbook murder. But nothing in this case stayed simple.

Velozo was charged with triple-qualified homicide—basically the highest level of murder charge in Brazil.

It should’ve been straightforward. Instead, the system dragged the case out for over three years with:

And then came the jaw-dropper: A judge reinstated Velozo to the police force before the trial ended—meaning he got his salary back while sitting in military prison accused of murder.

Lo’s family called it “a slap in the face.”

Honestly? It’s hard to disagree.

When the trial finally started in November 2025, it turned into a showdown between two completely opposite narratives:

They even tried to claim Lo was high (the lead detective said there was zero evidence of that).

To make things even more surreal, both sides brought AI reconstructions of the event… and they told completely opposite stories.

By the end, the jury wasn’t choosing facts. They were choosing which story they believed more.

The jury didn’t take long. On November 14th, 2025, they came back into the courtroom, and the foreman read two words: “Not guilty.”

Just like that, Henrique Velozo walked out a free man.

Three years of waiting.
Dozens of witnesses.
A nightclub full of people.
A world champion dead.

And the jury believed it was self-defense. Lo’s mother said the verdict felt like she “buried her son twice.”

The entire BJJ community lit up with the same question: How is this justice?

No one took the verdict harder than Fátima Lo, Leandro’s mother.

She said the trial humiliated her. That the system protected the uniform instead of the truth. That her son was tried as if he were the criminal.

And she made a promise: The family will appeal.

Even if the process is long and brutal, she refuses to accept a world where her son’s killer walks away untouched.

For her, this isn’t about winning anymore. It’s about doing what’s right.

A champion is gone.
A police officer walks free.
A community feels betrayed.

Was this truly self-defense? Or a failure of the justice system to hold one of its own accountable?

That’s the question everyone is arguing about — on the mats, online, and everywhere BJJ lives.

What do you think?