At least 21 people were shot dead and seven injured when police raided a Rio de Janeiro favela to capture the leaders of a drug trafficking organization.
Among the dead was a woman who was hit by a stray bullet during an exchange of gunfire between gang members and police in the Vila Cruzeiro favela.
The death toll places the incident among Rio’s deadliest police operations in recent history. It comes a year later a raid in the Jacarezinho favela that left 28 dead, sparking allegations of abuse and summary executions. The episode sparked protests and also reignited the debate over the proper use of police force in Rio, where a common local saying goes: “A good criminal is a dead criminal”.
Just weeks after the Jacarezinho raid, a stray bullet hit a young pregnant woman during a police raid in another favelaand his death sparked further outrage.
Residents said on social media that heavy gunfire started in the dark at 4 a.m. in a wooded area next to Vila Cruzeiro, sparking fear and panic in the slum. The gunfire resumed in the afternoon, said a Reuters photographer near the scene.
Seven injured were taken to hospital, including a policeman.
The police operation, backed by a helicopter, targeted the leaders of Rio’s largest organized crime gang, the Comando Vermelho (Red Command), who, according to police intelligence, were hiding in Vila Cruzeiro.
“It was a very intense confrontation,” Colonel Ivan Blaz, spokesman for the militarized police who led the operation, told reporters.
Outside a local hospital where the victims were taken, residents of Vila Cruzeiro mourned the loss of family and friends and protested.
Rio state prosecutors said in a statement that they have opened a criminal investigation. They gave military police 10 days to provide details of the operation, indicating which officials were responsible for each death and the rationale for the use of lethal force, the statement said.
The operation was carried out jointly by the military police and the federal traffic police. Police seized 16 vehicles, 13 automatic rifles as well as pistols and grenades, according to the police statement.
The deceased woman has been identified as Gabriele Cunha, 41, who was hit by a stray bullet while living in a nearby slum called Chatuba. Schools did not open for classes.
Earlier this year, Brazil’s Supreme Court established a series of conditions for police to carry out raids in Rio’s favelas to reduce killings and human rights abuses by police. The court ruled that lethal force should only be used in situations where all other means had been exhausted and when necessary to protect life, and gave police 180 days to install audio recording devices and video on their uniforms and vehicles.
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