At least 1,000 people were victims of stray bullets in Rio de Janeiro in 6 years

At least 1,000 people were victims of stray bullets in Rio de Janeiro over the last six years, according to an unprecedented study released today by the Fogo Cruzado Institute that highlights the risk of collateral victims every time there is a shooting.

Between July 2016 and November 2022, there were 229 deaths by stray bullets in Rio de Janeiro and its metropolitan region and 771 were wounded.

Last year, up to November, there were 20 deaths and 62 injured by stray bullets.

The worst year recorded was 2018, when 252 people were victims of stray bullets (47 dead and 205 wounded).

The Fogo Cruzado Institute recalled that that year, the Metropolitan Region of Rio was under a period of Federal intervention, which lasted ten months.

The Institute’s Director of Data and Transparency, Maria Isabel Couto, warned about the high number of victims during police actions.

Of the 1,000 shots, 624 were fired in the presence of the police, and 162 of them died. For the director, the actions and operations obey a logic of conflict.

“The police are not prepared to avoid conflicts, and this is reflected in the high number of victims of stray bullets,” he said.

Violence in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro also reveals a false sense of security at home.

The study cited data from a Datafolha survey released in 2022, in which 80 percent of residents of the capital of Rio de Janeiro reported fear of being victims of stray bullets, and 59 percent revealed their intention to change cities, if possible.

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