At least 18 people were killed in a police operation. Officers said 16 of them were suspected of stealing cars and robbing banks. The operation was very violent and was criticized, the police were accused, as on other occasions in the past, of using excessive and disproportionate force: it happened in Complexo do Alemão, a cluster of favelas in northern Rio de Janeiro, where about 70 thousand people live. The other two fatalities were a police officer and a woman who lived in the area.
The operation involved about 400 agents with 10 armored vehicles and 4 helicopters, who began the maneuvers before dawn and didn’t finish until around 4 p.m. In some situations, agents fired directly from the helicopters, even in densely populated areas, and took a few hits from the ground.