🔗 Share this article

The eyewitness

A photographer who observed the aftermath of an extensive law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how community members returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "continued arriving: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. They included those of police officers.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he reported. Many also had evidence of knife injuries.

More than 120 people were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation targeting an illegal organization - the deadliest such raid in the city.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him about the operation in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

The eyewitness reported that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the operation were taking place.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'The press doesn't get past here'."

However, the photographer, who grew up in that neighborhood, stated he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he continued until the next morning.

He described during the night, local residents began to search the hillside which divides the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who had been missing after the operation.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a square - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of what occurred affected me a lot: the sorrow of the families, parents losing consciousness, expectant spouses, weeping, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The photographer

The official of Rio state declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to stopping a gang known as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

At first, the Rio state government maintained that sixty alleged criminals along with four officers" had been killed in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates suggests that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to low-income residents, has estimated the total number of casualties to be 132.

According to researchers, the criminal organization is the only criminal group that in the past few years has succeeded to make territorial gains in the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Experts commonly view among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, together with a rival criminal group, with a background extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist a specialist, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio over many years, the gang "works as a system" with area gang leaders affiliating with the group and acting as "commercial associates".

The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, petroleum products, beverages cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, organization members are well armed and police said that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the political leader, characterized organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

Nevertheless, the total of casualties during the raid has faced scrutiny from international human rights authorities saying it was "appalled".

At a news conference the next day, the state leader supported law enforcement.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he declared.

He added that the circumstances had escalated due to the alleged criminals fought back: "It resulted of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members."

The state leader additionally stated that the victims presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he claimed that some of them had been taken of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to redirect responsibility to security forces".

A police official representing security forces also said that "camouflage clothing, vests, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and presented video apparently demonstrating a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse