Huge Brazilian raid on Rio gang leaves at least 64 people dead and 81 under arrest

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — About 2,500 Brazilian police and soldiers launched a massive raid on a drug-trafficking gang in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, arresting 81 suspects and sparking shootouts that left at least 60 suspects and four police officers dead, officials said.

The operation included officers in helicopters and armored vehicles and targeted the notorious Red Command in the sprawling low-income favelas of Complexo de Alemao and Penha, police said.

The police operation was one of the most violent in Brazil's recent history, with human rights organizations calling for investigations into the deaths.

Rio’s state Gov. Claudio Castro said in a video posted on X that 60 criminal suspects were “neutralized” during the massive raid that he called the biggest such operation in the city's history. Some 81 suspects were arrested, while 93 rifles and more than half a ton of drugs were seized, the state government said, adding that those killed “resisted police action.”

Rio's civil police said on X that four officers died in Tuesday's operation. “The cowardly attacks by criminals against our agents will not go unpunished,” it said.

An unknown number of people were wounded.

The United Nations' human rights body said it was “horrified” by the deadly police operation, called for effective investigations and reminded authorities of their obligations under international human rights law.

César Muñoz, director of Human Rights Watch in Brazil, called Tuesday’s events “a huge tragedy” and a “disaster.”

“The public prosecutor’s office must open its own investigations and clarify the circumstances of each death,” Muñoz said in a statement.

Footage on social media showed fire and smoke rising from the two favelas as gunfire rang out. The city's Education Department said 46 schools across the two neighborhoods were closed, and the nearby Federal University of Rio de Janeiro canceled night classes and told people on campus to seek shelter.

Suspected gang members blocked roads in northern and southeastern Rio in response to the raid, local media reported. At least 70 buses were commandeered to be used in the blockades, causing significant damage, the city's bus organization Rio Onibus said.

The operation Tuesday followed a year of investigation into the criminal group, police said.

Gov. Castro, from the conservative opposition Liberal Party, said the federal government should be providing more support to combat crime — a swipe at the administration of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Gleisi Hoffmann, the Lula administration's liaison with the parliament, agreed that coordinated action was needed but pointed to a recent crackdown on money laundering as an example of the federal government's action on organized crime.

Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and a number of ministers met in response to the operation on Tuesday afternoon. Chief of Staff Rui Costa requested an emergency meeting in Rio on Wednesday, with him in attendance as well as Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski.

Emerging from Rio’s prisons, the Red Command criminal gang has expanded its control in favelas in recent years.

Rio has been the scene of lethal police raids for decades. In March 2005, some 29 people were killed in Rio’s Baixada Fluminense region, while in May 2021, 28 were killed in the Jacarezinho favela.

While the Tuesday's police operation was similar to previous ones, its scale was unprecedented, said Luis Flavio Sapori, a sociologist and public safety expert at Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais.

“What’s different about today’s operation is the magnitude of the victims. These are war numbers,” he said.

He argued that these kinds of operations are inefficient because they do not tend to catch the masterminds, but rather target underlings who can later be replaced.

“It’s not enough to go in, exchange gunfire, and leave. There’s a lack of strategy in Rio de Janeiro’s public security policy,” Sapori said. “Some lower-ranking members of these factions are killed, but those individuals are quickly replaced by others.”

The Marielle Franco Institute, a nonprofit founded by the slain councilwoman ’s family to continue her legacy of fighting for the rights of people living in favelas, also criticized the operation.

“This is not a public safety policy. It’s a policy of extermination, that makes the everyday life of Black and poor people a Russian roulette,” it said in a statement.

Police stand over suspects during an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Police conduct an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

People protest outside Getulio Vargas Hospital shortly after their relatives were brought here by police due to injury during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Police walk past a burned car used as a roadblock during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Police gather outside the Getulio Vargas Hospital where a colleague was brought after getting injured in an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Police gather outside the Getulio Vargas Hospital where a colleague was brought after getting injured in an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Getulio Vargas Hospital workers remove an injured person from a police truck after he was injured during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A police officer stands over bloodied people lying in the back of a police truck brought to the Getulio Vargas Hospital during a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Getulio Vargas Hospital workers remove an injured person from a police truck after he was injured in a police operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Complexo do Alemao favela where the criminal organization "Comando Vermelho" operates in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday," the airport's official X account wrote.

A spokesperson for the airport said the pedestrian, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We're stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now" before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.

“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”

Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to local hospitals.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted. It is expected to open later today.

The pedestrian death came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident nor the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. "We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

FILE - A Frontier Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International airport on Nov. 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)