In Rio, Gunshots From ‘Here, There, Everywhere’ More than 130 killed in deadliest police operation in the city’s history
Residents carry the body of a man killed during a police raid targeting the Comando Vermelho gang in the Complexo da Penha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A massive police raid in Rio de Janeiro has left at least 132 people dead, in what authorities and local media are calling the deadliest single day of violence in the city’s history.
The operation began before dawn on Tuesday in the Vila Cruzeiro favela and involved roughly 2,500 police officers targeting members of the Red Command, one of Brazil’s most powerful drug gangs. Helicopters circled overhead as gang members torched vehicles and reportedly used drones to drop explosives. Residents described hours of intense crossfire, saying gunfire echoed “from every direction.”
Schools and clinics were shut down as families barricaded themselves inside their homes. Volunteers later recovered dozens of bodies from nearby wooded areas, lining them up in a public square to help families identify their loved ones.
Initially, police claimed to have killed around 60 suspected criminals, but by Wednesday, the state’s public defender’s office confirmed at least 132 fatalities—including four police officers. Despite the scale of the raid, authorities admitted they did not capture their main target, a senior Red Command leader. Officials nonetheless touted the arrests of more than 100 suspects and the seizure of weapons and drugs as a major success.
Brazilian media and human rights groups, however, have condemned the operation as a massacre. Jornal do Brasil described reports of executions and torture, while witnesses said some victims appeared to have been mutilated. Critics questioned why suspects were killed rather than arrested, noting that Brazil does not have the death penalty.
The bloodshed has reignited debate over policing tactics in Brazil just weeks before the country is set to host the United Nations climate summit. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration has vowed to investigate the incident, while Rio’s governor defended the raid as a necessary response to what he called “narco-terrorism.”
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