At least 11 people died this Tuesday in a favela in Rio de Janeiro in a major police operation to capture Red Command leadersone of the largest criminal organizations in Brazil, reported authorities and media.
According to the news channel GloboNews, among the fatal victims there are a 41-year-old neighbor who died in the middle of the shooting occurred in the favela Vila Cruzeiro, in the north of Rio de Janeiro.
The operation was carried out at 4 in the morning by the Rio Police Special Operations Battalion (BOPE), the elite troop, the federal police and the federal highway police.
The goal was capture the leaders of Rio de Janeiro and several other cities in the country of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) who had decided to meet in Vila Cruzeiro to plot criminal actions, according to the police.
According to a spokesman for the Militarized Police, ten deceased are suspected of belonging to the group while the woman was the victim of a stray bullet.
No police officers have been reported dead so far.
The police version indicates that the shooting began when the policemen were attacked by the narcos in the middle of the operation of ascent to the favela.
Eleven primary and secondary schools in the region neighboring Vila Cruzeiro suspended their activities for fear of stray bullets from the police operation, reported the municipality of the so-called wonderful city.
