🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has described how local people returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The victims "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained law enforcement personnel.

One of the bodies was discovered headless - others were "severely damaged", he explained. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were killed during the security action on a criminal gang - the most lethal operation in the city.

The photographer reported that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by local people from the Alemão area, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought.

Itan explained that the police prevented journalists from going into the operation zone, where the police action were occurring.

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

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in the community, explained he managed to make his way past the security perimeter, where he stayed through the night.

He reported that Tuesday night, community members commenced searching the mountainous area that separates Penha from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for since the police raid.

Local people living in Penha proceeded to place the recovered bodies in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all impacted me a lot: the grief of loved ones, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region stated that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 law enforcement members was intended to halting a criminal group known as the criminal faction from growing their influence.

At first, state authorities stated that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" had been killed in the operation.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates shows that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to disadvantaged individuals, has estimated the final tally of people killed to be 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command represents the unique criminal entity which in recent years has succeeded to make territorial gains throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in the country, alongside a rival criminal group, featuring a timeline spanning over five decades.

Per reporter an expert, who has been covering illegal operations in Rio for years, Red Command "works as a system" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and becoming "operational allies".

The organization concentrates largely on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking weapons, precious metals, fuel, alcohol and tobacco.

According to the authorities, organization members have substantial firearms and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they came under attack via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of Rio state, the government representative, labeled Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as brave public servants.

But the number of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "appalled".

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

"We did not plan to result in deaths. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he said.

He added that the situation had escalated because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the retaliation they executed and the disproportionate use of force by the illegal group."

The official further reported that the casualties shown by residents in the neighborhood had been "manipulated".

In a post on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame to security forces".

Felipe Curi representing security forces further reported that military attire, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a man stripping military attire {off a corpse