Brazil's Deadliest Police Raid: 119 Killed in Rio as Mother Claims Teen Son Was Executed

The death toll has reached 119 according to official reports, though some sources claim it has risen to 132.

In Brazil, authorities discovered a severed head with red-dyed hair among dense vegetation near a Rio favela, approximately 24 hours after what has become Brazil's deadliest police operation in history.

The remains belonged to 19-year-old Iago Ravel. His mother, Raquel Tomas, firmly believes security forces executed her son.

"They cut my son's throat, severed his neck, and displayed the head on a tree like a trophy," Tomas told AFP, her voice breaking with grief and anger.

"My son was executed without any opportunity to defend himself. It was murder," she stated, visibly shaken.

The massive police raids on Tuesday resulted in at least 119 deaths—115 alleged gang members and four police officers—marking the deadliest law enforcement operation in Rio de Janeiro's troubled recent history.

Some officials have reported the death count could be as high as 132, with many families still searching for missing loved ones.

Authorities claim the operation, involving 2,500 security personnel, targeted the Comando Vermelho (Red Command), Rio's primary criminal organization and a significant player in South America's cocaine trade.

Rio's right-wing Governor Claudio Castro insisted that those killed were criminals and maintained that minimal errors occurred during the operation.

Iago Ravel's family strongly disputes these claims.

His 34-year-old mother spent the entire night searching hospitals and police stations for her son.

She eventually discovered his remains among numerous bodies arranged in the Penha favela complex.

An AFP journalist confirmed seeing the decapitated body.

"He was just 19, from a good family," Tomas said while waiting outside a morgue to formally identify her son's remains.

"Our deepest sorrow and outrage comes from the brutal way they killed him," added Ravel's aunt, Dayane Tomas, 36.

Ravel's father, Alex Rosado da Costa, directly accused the Special Police Operations Battalion (BOPE) of executing his son.

BOPE is infamous for its skull and dagger insignia and has a history of abuses, with several officers previously tried and convicted for misconduct.

"They decapitated him. From what I've heard, there are no bullet wounds on his body," he stated.

Ravel's mother described the experience as pure "terror."

"They murdered him," she insisted. "It wasn't just my son—it was a massacre."

"Everyone deserves a second chance. During operations, police should perform their duties by arresting suspects, not executing them," Tomas added.

Outside the morgue, 24-year-old Ana Beatriz Adorno continued searching for her 29-year-old husband.

"We have no information about his whereabouts. No body, no details, nothing," she told AFP.

Two other women were similarly searching for their missing husbands.

The violent confrontations began early Tuesday in Rio's Penha and Alemao neighborhoods.

Under "Operation Containment," thousands of heavily armed officers were reportedly deployed to execute approximately 100 judicial warrants.

They quickly encountered resistance from suspected gang members who deployed bomb-laden drones and constructed barricades.

The operation was exceptionally brutal, even by Rio's standards, with intense gunfire throughout.

Journalists on location had to repeatedly seek cover, according to an AFP photographer.

Later, 26 or 27 detainees were seen lined up on the ground, shirtless and barefoot with their heads bowed.

Governor Castro, a close ally of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, declared the raid against "narcoterrorists" successful.

UN human rights officials expressed horror at the events and called for a prompt investigation.