🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the results of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has reported how residents brought back badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. Among them were law enforcement personnel.

One individual was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Several bodies showed evidence of stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during the security action against a criminal group - the most lethal operation Rio has experienced.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted to the raid in the early hours by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out telling him there was a shoot-out.

The eyewitness went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces blocked media personnel from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place.

"Police officers established a perimeter and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in that neighborhood, explained he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He reported during the night, community members started looking the elevated terrain that borders the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in a public space - the documented evidence display the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of what occurred shook me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The official of the region declared that the large-scale security action with approximately 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing an illegal organization known as the criminal faction from expanding its territory.

At first, state authorities maintained that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations suggests that 117 alleged criminals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the overall count of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang is the only criminal group that in the past few years has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, in company with another major gang, and has a history extending half a century.

Per correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio extensively, the criminal organization "works as a system" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and acting as "commercial associates".

The gang concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking guns, gold, energy resources, alcohol and tobacco.

Based on official reports, organization members are well armed and police said that during the raid, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The state leader of the region, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel killed in the raid as brave public servants.

However, the count of fatalities during the raid has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities saying it was "horrified".

In a media appearance the following day, Governor Castro supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he stated.

He continued that the situation had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The state leader also said that the casualties shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered".

In a post on online platforms, he claimed that some of them had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi representing security forces also said that tactical gear, protective equipment, and weapons" were stripped from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse