🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has reported how residents returned with badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", the eyewitness reported. They included security forces.

One individual was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he reported. Several bodies showed what appeared to be knife injuries.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer explained that he was first alerted concerning the action Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him alerting him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement blocked media personnel from going into the affected area, where the police action was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in that neighborhood, stated he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he remained through the night.

He reported that evening, community members began to search the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members who had been missing since the police raid.

Community members from the Penha area arranged the located casualties in an open area - the photographer's images display the emotions of those present.

"The brutality of the situation impacted me deeply: the pain of loved ones, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, sobbing, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region announced that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" lost their lives during the action.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 individuals lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has estimated the total number of fatalities to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "operational allies".

The gang concentrates largely on illegal drug trade, but also smuggles guns, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol cigarettes.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The governor of the region, the political leader, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

However, the count of people killed in the security action has received condemnation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights saying it was "shocked".

In a media appearance the next day, the official justified security actions.

"We did not plan to kill anyone. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said.

He added that the events had escalated because the suspects fought back: "It occurred of the resistance they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the casualties presented by community members in Penha had been "tampered with".

In a post on online platforms, he claimed that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "in order to shift blame toward law enforcement".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and showed footage apparently demonstrating a man removing tactical gear {off a corpse