🔗 Share this article The victims kept arriving - eyewitness describes fatal Rio police raid The photographer Multiple casualties were laid out in a public space in Penha in the wake of the most lethal operation Rio has ever seen An eyewitness who documented the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in the Brazilian city has described how community members brought back badly injured victims of those who had died. The bodies "continued arriving: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45...", Bruno Itan reported. They included security forces. A particular victim had been decapitated - others were "totally disfigured", he reported. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be blade trauma. In excess of 120 victims were fatally injured during the security action against a criminal group - the bloodiest action the municipality has seen. In excess of 100 suspects were taken into custody as part of the security raid The photographer explained that residents first notified him to the raid Tuesday morning by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who sent him messages alerting him there was a shoot-out. The reporter went to the healthcare center, where the victims were arriving. Itan explained that security forces blocked media personnel from accessing the Penha neighborhood, where the security measures were taking place. "Law enforcement personnel established a perimeter and said: 'Media representatives are not allowed to pass'." Nevertheless, the eyewitness, who spent his childhood in the community, stated he succeeded to gain access into the restricted zone, where he remained until dawn. He reported during the night, community members began to search the elevated terrain that separates Penha from the nearby Alemão neighbourhood for relatives who were unaccounted for after the operation. Residents of the Penha neighbourhood organized the located casualties in an open area - and Itan's photos reveal the reaction of the gathered crowd. "The violence of it all affected me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, parents losing consciousness, women carrying children, weeping, angry family members," the eyewitness remembered. The eyewitness There was shock in Penha as community members found additional victims from the nearby hillside The state leader of the region announced that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 security personnel was intended to preventing a criminal group referred to as the criminal faction from growing their influence. At first, local officials claimed that "60 suspects and four police officers" were fatally injured during the action. Officials subsequently stated that early calculations suggests that 117 "suspects" have been killed. The public legal service, that gives legal support to the poor, has estimated the final tally of fatalities at 132. According to researchers, Red Command stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has been able to expand its territory throughout Rio state. It is widely considered one of the two largest gangs in Brazil, alongside another major gang, and has a history spanning over five decades. Per reporter a specialist, who has long reported on criminal activity in the city for years, the gang "functions as a network" with local criminal leaders joining the organization and becoming "commercial associates". The criminal group focuses mainly on drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, precious metals, energy resources, alcohol smoking products. Based on official reports, criminal affiliates possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones. The governor of the region, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as drug terrorists and described the four police officers killed in the raid as courageous individuals. However, the count of fatalities in the operation has received condemnation from UN human rights officials expressing they felt "shocked". In a media appearance the following day, the official justified security actions. "It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to detain everyone safely," he stated. He continued that the situation worsened as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the retaliation they carried out and the excessive violence by the illegal group." The official further reported that the victims shown by residents in the neighborhood were "altered". Via a statement on social media, he claimed that some of them had been stripped of tactical gear that he stated they possessed "in order to shift blame onto the police". A police official of Rio's civil police force further reported that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse