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| - A massive manhunt for an escaped convict accused of murdering a family of four in the Brazilian countryside ended Monday when he was shot dead by police after 20 days on the run, officials said. Authorities said Lazaro Barbosa, 32, opened fire on police as they closed in on him outside the central city of Aguas Lindas, leaving officers no alternative but to return fire. Brazilian TV news channels showed footage of officers hauling the badly bloodied escapee's inert body from the back of a black SUV and carrying him to an ambulance. Barbosa was alive when he reached the hospital, but died of his wounds, said the head of the Goias state health department, Rodney Miranda. "Well done to our security forces," tweeted Governor Ronaldo Caiado. "Goias isn't a Disneyland for criminals." Even President Jair Bolsonaro joined in. "Well done to the heroes who put an end to the terror waged by Lazaro, who humiliated and murdered men and women in cold blood... One less criminal to frighten good families," tweeted the far-right leader, who has sought to cast himself as tough on crime. Barbosa, a twice-escaped inmate, became the most-wanted criminal in Brazil on June 9, when a family of four was found hacked to death on the rural outskirts of the town of Cocalzinho de Goias, some 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Aguas Lindas. Authorities named him as the suspect and launched a manhunt that soon swelled to include some 300 officers, search dogs, helicopters and drones. They swept the countryside west of the capital, Brasilia, in vain for nearly three weeks -- leaving Brazilians transfixed by the manhunt and local residents terrified. Rumors and supposed sightings of the "Serial Killer of Brasilia" swirled, fueled by Barbosa's movie-villain image. A native of the northeastern state of Bahia with a pencil-thick goatee and shock of black hair cascading over his forehead, Barbosa was jailed in 2011 for robbery and rape. He escaped in 2016, then was recaptured in 2018 -- only to escape again from a prison in Aguas Lindas. Last week police arrested a farmer suspected of hiding Barbosa for five days. lg/jhb
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