Assassins who gunned down a mother of four in a hail of bullets in front of her 14-year-old son are being hunted by police in Brazil.

Witnesses heard the horrified teen scream “Mother, don’t die” as she slumped before him covered in blood.

Victim Jhenifer Cristiane Borges Goncalves, 29, was parking her car in the garage at her home in Curitiba, Parana State, on 23rd November, when two men pulled up on motorcycles.

Civil Police officer Thiago Teixeira interviewed Jhenifer’s distraught mother the following morning.

He said: “She reported that, last night, Jhenifer left to fill up the vehicle with her four children, all teenagers, and when she returned, three of these children entered the residence and the eldest, aged 14, stayed at the gate waiting for her to enter with the car.

“At that moment, two motorcycles arrived on the scene, one of the drivers got off his motorcycle and fired the shots, and the two escaped in sequence.”

A neighbour, who wanted to remain anonymous, told local media that her son had heard a noise and a child’s screams at the time of the incident.

She said: “My son said he heard the noise, he said he heard approximately eight to 10 shots, and the children were screaming ‘mother, mother, don’t die, don’t die’, he said it was very sad.”

Sergeant Diniz of the Fire Department said: “I apparently counted, in the car, seven shots. It was a 9mm pistol. At least three shots hit the victim as far as I could tell.

“She was in a nightgown, it looks like she went to put the car away and someone shot her.”

Jhenifer will be buried at Boqueirao Municipal Cemetery in Curitiba today (25th November).

Lieutenant Youngblood of the Military Police said: “Her family members were very scared, in despair about the situation.

“Apparently, she had no involvement with trafficking or other illegal activities. What we have gathered from the information is that it was a crime of passion.”

Further information has been withheld so as not to hinder the investigation.