The victims kept arriving - reporter shares deadly Rio law enforcement operation

The eyewitness

A reporter who witnessed the consequences of a large-scale law enforcement action in the metropolitan area has recounted how local people came back with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives.

The casualties "kept coming: the count kept increasing", the photographer reported. The total contained those of police officers.

One individual was found without a head - others were "severely damaged", he said. Numerous victims displayed what he described as stab wounds.

Over 120 individuals were fatally injured during the security action against a criminal group - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen.

The photographer reported that he was first alerted to the raid Tuesday morning by community members living in Alemão, who sent him messages telling him an armed confrontation was occurring.

The photographer went to a local medical facility, where the casualties were coming in.

The photographer stated that law enforcement blocked media personnel from going into the affected area, where the operation was under way.

"Law enforcement personnel formed a line and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'."

But Itan, who was raised in the community, reported he was able to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed until the next morning.

He described that Tuesday night, community members commenced searching the elevated terrain that borders the Penha neighborhood from the neighboring Alemão community for family members who had been missing after the operation.

Local people from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a public space - and Itan's photos display the emotions of the gathered crowd.

"The violence of what occurred impacted me profoundly: the grief of loved ones, mothers fainting, women carrying children, crying, angry family members," the reporter recounted.

Bruno Itan

The governor of the region declared that the massive police operation deploying about 2,500 law enforcement members was designed to halting a gang known as Comando Vermelho from increasing their control.

Initially, local officials maintained that "60 suspects plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the operation.

They have since said that early calculations indicates that 117 individuals were fatally injured.

The public legal service, that offers legal help to disadvantaged individuals, has calculated the total number of casualties at 132.

Per investigative findings, the gang stands as the sole illegal faction that recently has managed to increase its control throughout Rio state.

It is generally regarded one of the two largest gangs in the country, together with another major gang, with a background spanning over five decades.

Per reporter an expert, who has long reported on crime in Rio for years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and serving as "commercial associates".

The gang engages primarily in drug trafficking, additionally trafficking firearms, gold, energy resources, beverages smoking products.

Based on official reports, gang members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that while the action was underway, they came under attack from explosive-laden drones.

The official of the region, the government representative, characterized gang affiliates as "narcoterrorists" and called the security forces fatally injured in the action as courageous individuals.

But the number of people killed in the operation has come in for criticism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressing they felt "horrified".

During a press briefing the next day, the official defended the police force.

"We did not plan to cause fatalities. We intended to arrest them all alive," he said.

He added that the events had escalated as the individuals resisted aggressively: "It resulted of the resistance they executed and the overwhelming response by those criminals."

The official also said that the casualties displayed by locals in Penha had been "manipulated".

Via a statement on social media, he claimed that particular individuals had been taken of military-style attire he said they had been wearing "to redirect responsibility toward law enforcement".

Felipe Curi from the police department additionally stated that tactical gear, vests, and arms" were stripped from the bodies and presented video seemingly depicting a man stripping military attire {off a corpse