Bodybuilder and fitness influencer Denis Yoshio dies aged 32 after being fatally shot outside brother's home

A fitness influencer and bodybuilder has died at the age of 32 after being fatally shot outside his brother's home.

Brazilian social media star Denis Yoshio, whose full name was Denis Yoshio Feltrim, was shot by two men outside a home in Vila Matilde, a district of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday night (March 9). In the wake of his killing, his distraught girlfriend has taken to social media to say "I can’t exist without you".

Yoshio's father told Brazilian online newspaper Metropoles that his son was on his way to collect a debt when he was killed, but the details around this have not been specified. He added that his son had told the debtor that he would borrow his brother's car to travel to his house.

Yoshio was having mechanical problems with his own car, according to friends and family, and intended to borrow his brother's vehicle to make the trip. He travelled to his brother's house with a colleague who works as an app driver.

When he arrived at his brother's address, in Vila Matilde, he got out of the car - and it was then that he was shot, according to local media reports. The bodybuilder was shot at least four times with a 9mm pistol by an assailant, who had arrived with one other person on a motorycle and then also fled the scene on the motorbike.

The suspects have not been identified at the time of writing, (on the afternoon of Tuesday March 12), and no arrests have currently been made.

After the attack, Yoshio's brother, who has not been named, managed to get him in to his car and began the journey to take him to a local hospital. Halfway through, however, a fire rescue unit was called in and firefighters took over in helping him get to Tatuape Municipal Hospital.

Yoshio then had a cardiac arrest, however, and although medical staff tried to revive him he was pronounced dead. 

The bodybuilder, who was also an economist, often shared his workouts to his 50,000 Instagram followers on his page @denis__yoshio. He was known for using the motto: “You can do everything except give up.” He also used the mantra: “Only those who pursue their goals are capable of achieving success.”

Yoshio's girlfriend, known only as Amanda, has taken to her own page - @amandalegora_ - to share her heartbreak following her beau's death. Alongside videos and photos of the couple together, she wrote: “I can’t think, I can’t understand. I’m nothing without you. Please come home my love.

“You gave my life meaning. I can’t be far from you. I can’t exist without you. I need to be with you. God help me please. Tell me this is one of your practical jokes please. Don’t leave me here alone.”

In the days since his death, she has continued to share many photos and videos of herself and Yoshio together in happy times, including an image of them kissing and footage of him dancing on the beach.

Yoshio's funeral was held on Monday (March 11), and the investigation into his death is on-going. According to the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) , expert examinations were requested from the Criminalistics Institute and the Legal Medical Institute (IML). The case was registered as a homicide in the 31st DP (Vila Carrão). There are no clues about the killers.