On July 13 2021, a fight broke out between police officers and a Romani family in the municipality of Vitòria da Conquista. 4 people were killed, including 2 policemen. Brazilian Romani organisations are denouncing a wave of violent attacks against Roma people since the confrontation. Local human rights organisations indeed say that after the incident, the police has been promoting the hunt & massacre of the Romani families living in the region, whether or not they were involved in any way in the fight.
More than 20 people have now been shot & 6 (between the age of 13 and 28) have died since the confrontation occurred. The cars & homes of several Romani families have been set on fire, forcing them to leave in fear for their safety and those of their children. A twitter video is circulating right now of a 14 year old boy being shot and killed.
I lived in a small city in the south of Brazil and my experience was the opposite, with people just casually expressing dislike for them.
Side note: Unsurprisingly, those same people dislike the indigenous people who live there aswell (almost 10% of the population, but most of them live in the reserve) and are not shy about using racial slurs against them.