🔗 Share this article

Bruno Itan

A reporter who documented the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has recounted how local people returned with mutilated bodies of the deceased individuals.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", Bruno Itan stated. They included security forces.

A particular victim was discovered headless - others were "severely damaged", he said. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during the security action targeting an illegal organization - the bloodiest action in the city.

The eyewitness explained that residents first notified him concerning the action Tuesday morning by community members living in Alemão, who sent him messages informing him gunfire had erupted.

The eyewitness traveled to a local medical facility, where the victims were coming in.

The photographer stated that the police prevented journalists from accessing the operation zone, where the operation was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists are not allowed to pass'."

However, the photographer, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to enter into the cordoned-off area, where he stayed through the night.

He explained during the night, community members started looking the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones whose whereabouts were unknown since the police raid.

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

"The violence of it all shook me deeply: the grief of relatives, women collapsing, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the photographer recalled.

Bruno Itan

The state leader of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping a gang called Comando Vermelho from expanding its territory.

Originally, state authorities claimed that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the raid.

They have since said that initial estimates shows that 117 individuals lost their lives.

Rio's public defender's office, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the overall count of people killed to be 132.

Per investigative findings, the criminal organization stands as the sole illegal faction which in recent years has succeeded to increase its control across the region.

Experts commonly view one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, in company with another major gang, with a background extending half a century.

Based on Brazilian journalist a specialist, with extensive experience documenting illegal operations in Rio extensively, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses joining the organization and becoming "business partners".

The organization engages primarily in illegal drug trade, while also dealing in guns, precious metals, fuel, liquor cigarettes.

Based on official reports, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and police said that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The governor of the region, the political leader, characterized organization participants as "narcoterrorists" and called the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

Nevertheless, the total of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, Governor Castro justified security actions.

"There was no objective to cause fatalities. We wanted to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He continued that the events worsened due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It was a consequence of the counterattack they executed and the excessive violence by those criminals."

The state leader further reported that the victims shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been stripped of the camouflage clothing which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation onto the police".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, body armor, and firearms" were taken away from the victims and showed footage appearing to show an individual cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse