🔗 Share this article

The photographer

An eyewitness who observed the aftermath of an extensive security raid in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with mutilated bodies of people who lost their lives.

The bodies "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer described. Among them were those of police officers.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he said. Several bodies showed what he described as stab wounds.

More than 120 people were killed during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by local people living in Alemão, who sent him messages alerting him gunfire had erupted.

The reporter made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were arriving.

The photographer stated that security forces stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the operation were taking place.

"Police officers formed a line and declared: 'The press cannot proceed beyond this point'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in that neighborhood, explained he succeeded to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until dawn.

He reported during the night, community members started looking the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for family members who were unaccounted for following the security action.

Community members living in Penha proceeded to place the discovered victims in a public space - the photographer's images reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of it all shook me profoundly: the pain of the families, parents losing consciousness, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the reporter recounted.

The photographer

The official of the region stated that the extensive law enforcement effort deploying about 2,500 security personnel was designed to stopping a gang referred to as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Originally, local officials claimed that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured during the action.

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, that gives legal support to the poor, has put the overall count of people killed at 132.

Based on expert analysis, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has succeeded to expand its territory throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations nationally, alongside First Capital Command, with a background extending half a century.

Per Brazilian journalist Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio over many years, the criminal organization "works as a system" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "operational allies".

The gang focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, energy resources, liquor smoking products.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates have substantial firearms and authorities stated that during the raid, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, Cláudio Castro, characterized organization participants as criminal extremists and described the four police officers fatally injured in the action as "heroes".

Nevertheless, the total of casualties in the operation has come in for criticism from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "shocked".

At a news conference the next day, the state leader justified security actions.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We aimed to detain everyone safely," he stated.

He added that the circumstances had escalated as the individuals fought back: "It resulted of the counterattack they carried out and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."

The state leader also said that the bodies displayed by locals in the area were "altered".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that certain victims had been removed of the camouflage clothing that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department additionally stated that "camouflage clothing, body armor, and arms" had been removed from the casualties and presented video seemingly depicting a person stripping military attire {off a corpse