Police raid in Rio favela sets off gunbattle that kills 9 people and wounds 2 officers

By CARLA BRIDI
Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A police raid in a low-income neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro set off a gunbattle that killed nine people and wounded two officers, marking the latest incident in a wave of lethal policing in Brazil. In a statement, Rio’s police said suspected criminals in the Vila Cruzeiro favela shot first Wednesday, wounding the officers and prompting police to return fire. It says nine people hit by bullets were declared dead at a hospital. The raid came a day after a police operation in the neighboring Sao Paulo state resulted in 16 deaths. Over the weekend, three police operations targeting alleged drug traffickers in Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia ended in 19 people being killed, according to local media reports.