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Like most kids around the world last spring, Jo茫o Pedro Mattos Pinto found himself on lockdown because of the raging coronavirus. Unable to go to school on May 18, the 14-year-old Black Brazilian joined his cousins at their house in a favela outside of Rio de Janeiro. When gunfire erupted in the neighborhood, he sent his mother a WhatsApp message: 鈥淚鈥檓 inside the house. Don鈥檛 worry.鈥�

Suddenly, 10 police officers burst into the house, searching for a purported drug trafficker and firing off more than 70 shots. Jo茫o Pedro was hit in the back. His relatives bundled the bleeding boy into a police helicopter, and he was airlifted away. The police barred family members from accompanying the minor and refused to provide the family with any more information. Police arrested no one in the operation.

Jo茫o Pedro鈥檚 cousin, Daniel, put out a desperate , begging people for help locating him. The #procurasejoaopedro (find Jo茫o Pedro) hashtag trended on Brazilian Twitter overnight. While more , Jo茫o Pedro鈥檚 disappearance grabbed the headlines. It took his family 17 hours to locate his body in a public morgue.

That was seven days before the world would see the haunting video of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd; before Black Lives Matter uprisings erupted across the United States, spreading quickly around the world. These two events helped to spark #VidasNegrasImportam (#BlackLivesMatter in Portuguese) protests in Rio de Janeiro and across Brazil, the South American country with the outside Africa, just ahead of the United States. And in an ironic confluence of events鈥擩oao Pedro鈥檚 death combined with the coronavirus鈥攑olice in Rio were forced to stop almost all operations, at least temporarily, leading to a stark decline in fatal police encounters.

In a world without coronavirus, Jo茫o Pedro鈥檚 death wouldn鈥檛 have trended on Twitter, nor would it have been front-page news. But the pandemic and subsequent protests forced Brazilians to focus on anti-Black police violence, which they had long ignored or normalized. Rio activists and lawyers, who had been working against such violence for years, filed an emergency petition asking Brazil鈥檚 Supreme Court to stop police operations during the pandemic. And one Supreme Court justice temporarily ruled in favor鈥攚ith startling results.

One month after Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin鈥檚 June 5 order barring police operations in Rio鈥攅xcept in extreme circumstances鈥攌illings by police had dropped . the suspension of police operations in Rio鈥檚 favelas could save more than 400 lives this year alone.

On August 3, a majority of justices on Brazil鈥檚 Supreme Court voted to uphold Fachin鈥檚 temporary ban on police operations in Rio鈥攁 decision that could have broader implications for addressing police violence across the country. The Supreme Court must still determine whether Rio鈥檚 state security policing needs to be aligned with national and international human rights standards.

鈥淚t is possible that if COVID hadn鈥檛 happened, we would not have had a [judicial] decision like we had,鈥� said Wallace Corbo, a lawyer who works pro bono on behalf of the Educafro, an education and social justice nonprofit in Brazil. He started working on the Supreme Court case to stop Rio police operations last year.

鈥淐OVID and Jo茫o Pedro changed everything,鈥� Corbo explained.

The COVID-19 pandemic further unmasked the extent of racial inequities. Although it was the from their European holidays, the workers who live in favelas and periphery communities鈥攖he Black and poor鈥攚ere dying at the highest rates. A recent study revealed . And the hardest hit demographic group is . As of August 27, the country of more than 211 million people had .

In many ways, Brazil has emerged as an almost , even down to the racial uprising that resulted from a police killing. It is second only to the United States in the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus. And like U.S. , Brazil鈥檚 President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the virus from the beginning of the pandemic, Between March and May, two health ministers resigned; their posts remain vacant. The country has yet to implement a national coronavirus plan.

Such lack of coordination and planning leaves favela activists such as Fernanda Viana Araujo, 40, scrambling to provide food and other basic necessities to people quarantined in tight quarters in these neighborhoods. Mothers who supported their families as domestic servants had to stay home. Fathers who earned a living as parking lot attendants had no work. Grocery store attendants continued to work, potentially exposing their families to the virus.

Araujo said her focus recently has shifted to providing COVID-19 testing to residents of Mar茅, a favela with the highest number of both COVID cases and deaths overall in Rio.

鈥淲e normally focus on building our community through culture, art, public policy, and education,鈥� said Araujo, who works with the nonprofit Rede da Mar茅, which is in the Mar茅 favela. 鈥淏ut we realized we needed to do something to help our people stay alive. And that means giving them food for their table.鈥�

From March until June, as the coronavirus spread, residents and activists in communities similar to the one where Jo茫o Pedro was killed faced an onslaught of anti-Black police violence. In April, the city of Rio compared to last year, which was also a record year. In 2019, in confrontations鈥攁bout 80% were young Black men鈥攎aking Rio鈥檚 police the deadliest force in Brazil. This recent uptick in the lethality of Rio鈥檚 police force is just a continuation of what Brazil鈥檚 Black activists have historically called the genocide against Black people.

鈥淭hey kill Black people because this is the structure of Brazilian society. This is the genocidal practice of killing 鈥楤lack meat,鈥欌�� says Aline Maia, referring to Maia is the executive coordinator of Observat贸rio de Favelas, a research institute focused on public policies in favelas. 鈥淸This genocide] is something that generates money, and it produces a spectacle that makes White people feel more secure because it鈥檚 happening someplace far. It helps politicians get votes.鈥�

This violence isn鈥檛 limited to Rio. Brazilian police killed more than 5,000 people last year during police operations鈥攆ive times the rate in the U.S. Bahia, a state with a population that鈥檚 80% Black, in Brazil鈥檚 poorer Northeast, . For the last seven years, the Reaj谩 ou Ser谩 Morto (React or Die) social justice group has held an annual March Against the Genocide of Black People in Salvador, Bahia鈥檚 capital city.

Jo茫o Pedro wasn鈥檛 the only young Black male who disappeared in Rio on May 18. Police , 21, and family members found his body in the morgue the next day. During that same week, Jo茫o Vitor Gomes da Rocha, 18, and 19-year-old Rodrigo Cerqueira鈥攂oth Black鈥攚ere killed during police operations that happened amid the delivery of food baskets. On May 13, Rio police massacred 13 people in a favela.

On May 24, the same day that George Floyd was killed, a coalition of Black movement groups led a massive digital protest鈥�#Justi莽aporJo茫oPedro. The next day, lawyers working on behalf of Black and favela social groups filed a petition with Brazil鈥檚 Supreme Court to halt police operations for the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This petition dates back to that called for Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 state security policing to align with national and international human rights standards. The lawsuit states that Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 deadly police encounters 鈥渁re the result of a public security policy that encourages armed confrontation and exposes residents of conflicted areas to profound violations of their fundamental rights.鈥�

In April, before Jo茫o Pedro鈥檚 death, lawyers entered an urgent injunction to the original lawsuit, requesting the state of Rio develop a new public security plan, among other measures. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on this, or the original case filed in November.

While the police have , the number of deadly confrontations have declined.

The Supreme Court case against the state of Rio de Janeiro also made history through the first-time participation of favela collectives such as , , , , Mothers of Manguinhos, and the . In the meantime, the organizations and government entities participating in the lawsuit have of the ongoing Supreme Court case, known as 鈥淎DFP das Favelas.鈥�

There is also hope that this first favorable ruling will reverberate throughout Brazil, because Rio is considered a leader in public security policy nationwide.

鈥淭his lawsuit is the special key,鈥� Maia says. 鈥淚t will open doors for other states to implement similar lawsuits.鈥�