29 Shot Dead in Rio Massacre; Rogue Police Are Suspected
RIO DE JANEIRO -- A band of suspected rogue policemen angry over an internal crackdown killed at least 29 people in a random shooting spree outside this city, authorities said Friday, raising fears among residents and rights groups of a revival of "death squads" in and around this violence-plagued metropolis.
The victims, five of them children, were gunned down Thursday night in two gritty northern Rio suburbs, sowing panic and chaos in the streets. Witnesses described the attacks as coming so fast and indiscriminately that bystanders had no time to flee or duck for cover.
The rampage shocked residents in a country already saddled with levels of violence some liken to war. It was Brazil's deadliest urban massacre since August 1993, when a death squad made up of disgruntled state police officers stormed into Rio's Vigario Geral slum and randomly shot to death 21 people.
Officials suspect the attackers may be policemen linked to a group of eight officers from a nearby precinct who were arrested this week in connection with two separate killings.
"The only thing I can say is that this crime will not go unpunished," Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos said, promising federal assistance in the investigation.
The secretary of public security for Rio de Janeiro state said he would send 250 police to back up dozens of locally based officers to help maintain security and stability in Baixada Fluminense, the poor, crime-ridden area where the killings occurred.
But that may not be enough to reassure residents deeply suspicious of the state police, which has a documented history of corruption and abuse.
Human rights groups renewed calls for the state to intensify efforts to clean up law enforcement to prevent a resurgence of extrajudicial death squads, which have been blamed for events such as the infamous Candelaria massacre of July 1993.
In that incident, eight homeless youths were gunned down in their sleep by policemen in the shadow of one of Rio's most important churches.
"Any hopes that such actions were horrors of the past have been dashed by the events of [Thursday] night, which show how far 'death squads' will go to spread terror and resist authorities' attempts to stop their activities," Amnesty International said.
The carnage began about 9 p.m. when a group of four to eight gunmen pulled up in one or two cars and opened fire on a crowded bar in the town of Nova Iguacu, according to authorities and local media reports. As patron after patron fell, the men started shooting at passersby.
