At least one person was shot dead every day in Rio de Janeiro in June.

During the month of June, which just ended, at least one person was shot dead every day in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The survey was conducted by news site G1 Grupo Globo and is based only on published news, which the site itself admits is not true.

According to this survey, 72 people were shot in Rio de Janeiro and its metropolitan area in June, at least 36 of whom died, more than one person per day. These people were shot during robberies, or on orders from third parties, or in isolated clashes with law enforcement officers, or were victims of stray bullets, including, unfortunately, several children.

However, the figures given by G1 are only part of the reality and the real armed war that is being waged in the once-named “Marvelous City”. Numerous cases of injuries or deaths from gunfire, especially when they occur in the favelas on the outskirts of the city, are not reported to the authorities or are not reported to the press, and several victims initially reported as wounded end up dying a few days later, and these deaths are not made public.

In addition to people shot during clashes with the police or in disputes between rival gangs of criminals, a significant number of these victims are or were innocent citizens killed in robberies or caught suddenly in the middle of a shootout while they were simply on a city street or even on a bus on their way to work. In late June, one such episode on the Yellow Line, one of Rio de Janeiro’s main roads, left two people dead, a 27-year-old engineer and mother of a seven-month-old child who was at a bus stop waiting for a bus when a police officer began exchanging fire with robbers trying to steal a motorcycle, and a 62-year-old passenger who was on a bus approaching the same stop where the young woman was and was also shot.