🔗 Share this article The bodies just kept coming - eyewitness describes lethal Rio law enforcement operation The photographer Multiple casualties were arranged in a public space in northern Rio in the wake of the deadliest police raid the municipality has experienced A photographer who witnessed the results of a massive Brazilian police operation in the Brazilian city has reported how local people returned with badly injured victims of people who lost their lives. The casualties "continued arriving: the numbers kept rising", Bruno Itan reported. The total contained law enforcement personnel. A particular victim had been decapitated - additional victims were "totally disfigured", he explained. Many also had what he described as stab wounds. In excess of 120 victims lost their lives in the Tuesday operation on a criminal gang - the deadliest such raid the municipality has seen. In excess of 100 suspects were taken into custody as part of the operation The photographer explained that he initially learned to the raid early on Tuesday by residents from the Alemão area, who contacted him informing him gunfire had erupted. The eyewitness made his way to the Getúlio Vargas hospital, where the victims were being brought. Itan explained that the police stopped members of the press from going into the affected area, where the operation were occurring. "Law enforcement personnel created a barrier and declared: 'The press are not allowed to pass'." However, the photographer, who grew up in the area, explained he succeeded to enter into the restricted zone, where he stayed through the night. He reported that evening, area inhabitants commenced searching the mountainous area that borders the Penha neighborhood from the adjacent Alemão area for relatives whose whereabouts were unknown after the operation. Community members from the Penha area arranged the discovered victims in a public space - the documented evidence show the response of the gathered crowd. "The harsh reality of it all shook me profoundly: the grief of the families, women collapsing, pregnant wives, weeping, outraged parents," the reporter recounted. The eyewitness There was shock in the community as residents retrieved more and more bodies from the nearby hillside The governor of Rio state stated that the massive police operation with approximately 2,500 officers was aimed at stopping a criminal group referred to as Red Command from expanding its territory. At first, state authorities claimed that sixty alleged criminals plus four law enforcement personnel" were fatally injured in the raid. They have since said that their "preliminary" count indicates that 117 "suspects" have been killed. The public legal service, which provides legal assistance to the poor, has put the overall count of people killed as 132. Per investigative findings, the gang represents the unique criminal entity that recently has succeeded to increase its control across the region. It is widely considered among the biggest criminal organizations in Brazil, in company with a rival criminal group, with a background spanning over five decades. Per reporter an expert, who has been covering criminal activity in the city over many years, Red Command "operates like a franchise" with local criminal leaders affiliating with the group and becoming "commercial associates". The criminal group focuses mainly on narcotics distribution, additionally trafficking firearms, valuable minerals, petroleum products, beverages and tobacco. Based on official reports, organization members possess significant weaponry and authorities stated that throughout the operation, they faced assaults from explosive-laden drones. The official of Rio state, Cláudio Castro, labeled organization participants as criminal extremists and referred to the law enforcement personnel fatally injured in the action as "heroes". But the number of fatalities during the raid has received condemnation from international human rights authorities expressing they felt "appalled". In a media appearance the following day, Governor Castro justified security actions. "It wasn't our intention to cause fatalities. We intended to detain everyone safely," he said. He further explained that the circumstances intensified because the suspects resisted aggressively: "It occurred of the counterattack they carried out and the excessive violence from the gang members." The governor also said that the casualties shown by residents in Penha were "altered". In a post on online platforms, he asserted that certain victims had been taken of military-style attire which he claimed they wore "to transfer accusation toward law enforcement". A law enforcement representative from the police department further reported that "camouflage clothing, protective equipment, and firearms" were stripped from the casualties and displayed evidence seemingly depicting an individual stripping military attire {off a corpse