The casualties continued piling up - reporter shares lethal Rio police raid

Bruno Itan

An eyewitness who observed the consequences of a massive security raid in Rio de Janeiro has reported how community members brought back badly injured victims of those who had died.

The casualties "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained security forces.

One of the bodies had been decapitated - while others appeared "totally disfigured", he said. Several bodies showed evidence of knife injuries.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation in the city.

The eyewitness explained that he initially learned to the raid Tuesday morning by residents from the Alemão area, who reached out informing him gunfire had erupted.

The photographer made his way to a local medical facility, where the victims were arriving.

Itan explained that law enforcement blocked media personnel from entering the Penha neighborhood, where the police action were occurring.

"Security forces established a perimeter and declared: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'."

Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who grew up in that neighborhood, stated he managed to make his way into the cordoned-off area, where he continued until the next morning.

He described during the night, local residents started looking the hillside which divides the community of Penha and the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for loved ones who had been missing following the security action.

Community members living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in a public space - the documented evidence display the response of the people there.

"The brutality of it all affected me a lot: the grief of relatives, mothers fainting, pregnant wives, crying, furious relatives," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The governor of the region announced that the large-scale security action involving around 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping an illegal organization referred to as Comando Vermelho from growing their influence.

Initially, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals and four police officers" were fatally injured in the raid.

Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" were fatally injured.

The legal assistance organization, that offers legal help to the poor, has calculated the total number of fatalities at 132.

According to researchers, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has managed to expand its territory across the region.

It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, alongside First Capital Command, and has a history spanning over five decades.

Per reporter Rafael Soares, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio over many years, Red Command "functions as a network" with area gang leaders forming part of the gang and serving as "commercial associates".

The criminal group engages primarily in illegal drug trade, additionally trafficking firearms, precious metals, fuel, alcohol cigarettes.

Per law enforcement statements, gang members are well armed and police said that during the raid, they encountered resistance using drone-delivered explosives.

The state leader of the state, the government representative, described gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the security forces who died during the operation as brave public servants.

But the number of people killed during the raid has received condemnation from UN human rights officials stating they were "appalled".

At a news conference the next day, the state leader defended the police force.

"It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We wanted to arrest them all alive," he said.

He further explained that the situation worsened because the suspects had retaliated: "It resulted of the resistance they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group."

The official also said that the casualties shown by residents in Penha had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that certain victims had been taken of military-style attire that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame to security forces".

A law enforcement representative representing security forces also said that military attire, body armor, and firearms" had been removed from the victims and presented video appearing to show an individual removing tactical gear {off a corpse