🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

An eyewitness who documented the results of a massive security raid in the metropolitan area has reported how community members brought back badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "kept coming: the numbers kept rising", the photographer stated. They included those of police officers.

One individual was discovered headless - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he explained. Several bodies showed what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people lost their lives during Tuesday's raid targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer stated that he initially learned concerning the action Tuesday morning by community members from the Alemão area, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that law enforcement blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures was under way.

"Police officers created a barrier and said: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who was raised in the area, explained he managed to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he remained through the night.

He explained during the night, area inhabitants commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for family members whose whereabouts were unknown following the security action.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the located casualties in a public space - and Itan's photos show the response of the people there.

"The violence of what occurred affected me a lot: the grief of the families, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the state announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 security personnel was designed to preventing a criminal group referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory.

Initially, state authorities maintained that sixty individuals along with four officers" lost their lives in the raid.

Authorities later reported that early calculations indicates that 117 alleged criminals have been killed.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of people killed to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, alongside another major gang, and has a history dating back more than 50 years.

Based on correspondent Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, the gang "operates like a franchise" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "operational allies".

The organization focuses mainly on drug trafficking, while also dealing in guns, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

Based on official reports, gang members have substantial firearms and officials reported that throughout the operation, they faced assaults using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and described the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of casualties during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

In a media appearance the following day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We aimed to arrest them all alive," he declared.

He continued that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals had retaliated: "It occurred of the counterattack they implemented and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official additionally stated that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Via a statement on online platforms, he said that particular individuals had been removed of tactical gear which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation to security forces".

A police official from the police department also said that tactical gear, body armor, and weapons" were stripped from the bodies and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse