Police in Brazil said they were shocked over a murder in which the allegedly cannibal suspects ate their victim’s heart after ripping it out of his chest over a debt.

The police said that the idea of eating the victim’s heart came from one of the three suspects, an unnamed 17-year-old girl who used to work for the victim.

The victim of the horrific act has been named as bar owner Antonio Raimundo, who was reportedly well-known in the municipality. The police are investigating allegations that the murder took place over a debt.

The gruesome murder and suspected act of cannibalism took place in Dois Irmaos, which is a municipality in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and cops have arrested two men and the 17-year-old girl, they said.

The police have named the two men in their custody as Rafael Araujo de Oliveira and Rafael dos Reis Azevedo, both 27. The female suspect has not been named. It is believed that this is due to the fact that she is a minor.

The suspects were reportedly detained on Monday, 28th February, on the premises of the murder, which happened to be a bar owned by the victim.

The police said that they suspect that the alleged murderers removed the victim’s heart from his chest before eating it in a cannibalistic ritual.

The police have said that one of the suspects claimed while in custody that they had all eaten pieces of the business owner’s heart. The police are currently awaiting the results from tests to confirm the suspected act of cannibalism.

Police commander Oseias Amorim said: “what cruelty! When you arrive at the scene of a crime involving a person is well-known in the city as Antonio Raimundo, the crime shocks you, doesn’t it?”

The victim’s family’s lawyer, named as Rosimar Borges de Miranda, said: “He was a person who had no enemies, a charismatic person, loved throughout the city. The city is in shock, the whole family is in shock because of the barbarity of the crime.”

The police investigation is ongoing.