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‘They came to kill’: Rio’s deadliest favela police raid sparks calls for change Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro Shaken, shoeless and with a gaping bullet wound to one of his feet, the young man staggered through Flávia Luciana’s front door at around 8am last Thursday as Rio’s decades-long drug conflict plumbed horrifying new depths. “Help me! For the love of God! Help!” she remembers him pleading as he sought shelter inside. It would be one of his last acts. About 30 minutes later, witnesses say a small group of police special forces appeared outside on Saint Man...

It would be one of his last acts. About 30 minutes later, witnesses say a small group of police special forces appeared outside on Saint Manuel lane, a narrow alleyway at the heart of Jacarezinho, one of the city’s largest favelas. Rifles raised, they advanced up two flights of stairs to Luciana’s door. One barged inside, pursuing the injured – and apparently unarmed man – into her nine-year-old daughter’s pink-walled bedroom, where a sign above the bed reads: “Here sleeps a princess.” The girl’s father, André Franklin, remembers hearing one, possibl...