The victims kept arriving - reporter shares fatal Rio police raid

The photographer

An eyewitness who witnessed the aftermath of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people returned with badly injured victims of the deceased individuals.

The victims "kept piling up: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan stated. Among them were security forces.

One individual had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Many also had what he described as stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals lost their lives in the Tuesday operation against a criminal group - the most lethal operation the municipality has seen.

The eyewitness reported that he initially learned about the operation in the early hours by local people of the Alemão neighbourhood, who contacted him informing him there was a shoot-out.

The reporter went to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the bodies were coming in.

Itan explained that law enforcement prevented journalists from going into the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures was under way.

"Security forces established a perimeter and said: 'Journalists doesn't get past here'."

But Itan, who grew up in the community, reported he managed to gain access into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.

He described that Tuesday night, area inhabitants started looking the hillside that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for family members who were unaccounted for after the operation.

Local people living in Penha arranged the recovered bodies in a square - and Itan's photos reveal the response of the gathered crowd.

"The harsh reality of what occurred affected me profoundly: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, sobbing, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered.

The eyewitness

The official of the region announced that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was aimed at preventing a gang called Red Command from increasing their control.

Originally, state authorities stated that sixty individuals plus four law enforcement personnel" lost their lives in the raid.

Officials subsequently stated that early calculations indicates that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.

The legal assistance organization, which provides legal assistance to low-income residents, has put the total number of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that in the past few years has been able to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is widely considered as a major illegal faction in Brazil, together with another major gang, with a background dating back more than 50 years.

Based on reporter Rafael Soares, who has been covering crime in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and acting as "commercial associates".

The organization focuses mainly on illegal drug trade, while also dealing in firearms, gold, petroleum products, liquor cigarettes.

According to the authorities, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and officials reported that during the raid, they faced assaults via weaponized unmanned aircraft.

The official of the region, the government representative, characterized Red Command members as drug terrorists and called the four police officers who died during the operation as courageous individuals.

But the number of casualties in the security action has received condemnation from UN human rights officials saying it was "appalled".

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

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

He continued that the circumstances intensified due to the alleged criminals had retaliated: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the disproportionate use of force by those criminals."

The official additionally stated that the casualties presented by community members in the neighborhood had been "tampered with".

Through a message through digital channels, he said that particular individuals had been taken of tactical gear he said they had been wearing "to transfer accusation onto the police".

A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that military attire, vests, and weapons" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence apparently demonstrating a person cutting camouflage clothing {off a corpse