A ocorrência foi perto de casa.

Ocorrência usually means something like incident, occurrence, or case. In Brazilian Portuguese, it often sounds formal or official, especially in contexts like:

• police reports
• emergency services
• news reports
• administrative language

So A ocorrência foi perto de casa sounds more like The incident happened near home than a casual everyday sentence.

In everyday conversation, people might more naturally say:

• Isso aconteceu perto de casa. = That happened near my house/home.
• O caso foi perto de casa. = The case/incident was near my house/home.

Because ocorrência is a feminine noun in Portuguese, so it takes the feminine article a.

• a ocorrência
• uma ocorrência

A lot of nouns ending in -ência are feminine, such as:

• a experiência
• a emergência
• a paciência

So the article has to match the noun’s gender.

Foi is the third-person singular of ser/ir in the preterite.

Here it comes from ser, not ir.

In this kind of sentence, foi is being used to indicate the location of an event, almost like was in English:

• A reunião foi no centro. = The meeting was downtown.
• O show foi na praia. = The concert was at the beach.
• A ocorrência foi perto de casa. = The incident was near home.

So although English might often say happened, Portuguese can use ser naturally when talking about where an event took place.

Yes, absolutely.

• A ocorrência foi perto de casa.
• A ocorrência aconteceu perto de casa.

Both are understandable.

The difference is mainly one of style:

• foi perto de casa focuses on where it was
• aconteceu perto de casa focuses more directly on the fact that it happened

In many contexts, aconteceu may sound more transparent to learners, because it matches English happened more closely. But foi is also very natural in Portuguese when giving the location of an event.

Because perto normally uses the preposition de before the place or thing it is near.

So the normal pattern is:

• perto de casa
• perto da escola
• perto do trabalho
• perto de mim

Examples:

• Moro perto da praia. = I live near the beach.
• O banco fica perto do mercado. = The bank is near the market.

So perto de is the standard structure to learn.

In Portuguese, casa often appears without an article when it means home in a general, personal sense.

So:

• perto de casa = near home / near my home
• em casa = at home
• voltar para casa = go back home

But when casa means a specific physical house, it often takes an article:

• perto da casa da minha avó = near my grandmother’s house
• na casa azul = in the blue house

So in your sentence, perto de casa has the more idiomatic sense of near home.

It can overlap with both, but in this structure it usually feels more like home.

• perto de casa = near home / near my house

Portuguese uses casa in many places where English prefers home:

• Estou em casa. = I’m at home.
• Cheguei em casa. = I got home.
• Saí de casa cedo. = I left home early.

So even though the literal word is house, the meaning here is often broader and more natural as home.

Yes, somewhat. The basic sentence is:

• A ocorrência foi perto de casa.

That is the most neutral order.

You could also hear:

• Foi perto de casa, a ocorrência.

But that sounds marked or less neutral, and might be used only in specific contexts for emphasis.

For a learner, the normal order to remember is:

subject + verb + place expression

So:

• A ocorrência
  • foi
    • perto de casa

In Brazilian Portuguese, it is approximately:

oh-koh-REHN-see-ah

A few helpful notes:

• the stress falls on rên: ocorRÊNcia
• rr in ocorrência is pronounced like a strong guttural h sound in most of Brazil
• the final cia sounds like see-ah in Brazilian Portuguese

So a rough pronunciation guide is:

oh-koh-HEHN-see-ah
or
oh-koh-REHN-see-ah

depending on how detailed you want to be with the rr sound.

It is natural, but it definitely sounds more like report language, news language, or official language than casual conversation.

That is mainly because of ocorrência.

A Brazilian person in everyday speech might be more likely to say:

• Isso foi perto de casa.
• Isso aconteceu perto de casa.
• Foi perto da minha casa.
• Aconteceu perto de casa.

So the grammar is natural, but the choice of ocorrência gives the sentence a more formal tone.