The photographer
A reporter who witnessed the aftermath of a massive Brazilian police operation in the metropolitan area has described how local people returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.
The bodies "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", the photographer described. The total contained those of police officers.
A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "completely mutilated", he explained. Numerous victims displayed what appeared to be stab wounds.
In excess of 120 victims lost their lives during Tuesday's raid against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid in the city.
Bruno Itan reported that he was first alerted about the operation early on Tuesday by residents of the Alemão neighbourhood, who reached out alerting him there was a shoot-out.
The reporter traveled to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the casualties were being brought.
The photographer stated that security forces prevented journalists from accessing the affected area, where the security measures was under way.
"Police officers established a perimeter and announced: 'Journalists cannot proceed beyond this point'."
However, the photographer, who was raised in the community, stated he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night.
He reported that Tuesday night, area inhabitants commenced searching the elevated terrain that separates the community of Penha and the neighboring Alemão community for loved ones who were unaccounted for since the police raid.
Community members of the Penha neighbourhood proceeded to place the discovered victims in an open area - the photographer's images reveal the response of the gathered crowd.
"The brutality of the situation affected me deeply: the sorrow of relatives, mothers fainting, expectant spouses, sobbing, angry family members," the reporter recounted.
The eyewitness
The official of the region declared that the large-scale security action deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was aimed at preventing a criminal group called the criminal faction from growing their influence.
Initially, local officials stated that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation.
Authorities later reported that initial estimates suggests that 117 "suspects" lost their lives.
Rio's public defender's office, which provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the final tally of fatalities at 132.
According to researchers, Red Command is the only criminal group that recently has been able to expand its territory in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
It is generally regarded as a major illegal faction nationally, together with another major gang, featuring a timeline extending half a century.
Per reporter a specialist, with extensive experience documenting crime in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with neighborhood bosses affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates".
The gang engages primarily in narcotics distribution, but also smuggles weapons, precious metals, petroleum products, alcohol smoking products.
Per law enforcement statements, organization members have substantial firearms and officials reported that while the action was underway, they encountered resistance via weaponized unmanned aircraft.
The governor of Rio state, the political leader, characterized Red Command members as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as "heroes".
But the number of casualties in the security action has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stating they were "shocked".
During a press briefing the following day, the state leader defended the police force.
"It wasn't our intention to result in deaths. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.
He continued that the events had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the retaliation they implemented and the overwhelming response by the illegal group."
The state leader additionally stated that the bodies displayed by locals in Penha had been "tampered with".
In a post on social media, he said that particular individuals had been removed of the camouflage clothing he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility onto the police".
A law enforcement representative from the police department also said that tactical gear, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and showed footage seemingly depicting a person removing tactical gear {off a corpse
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