Brazilian Drug Gangs Shoot Down Police Helicopter (VIDEO)

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By FLORA CHARNER, Associated Press Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO - A police helicopter flying over a clash between drug gangs was hit by gunfire and crashed Saturday, police said. Two officers were killed.

Bullets from the Morro dos Macacos slum in northern Rio de Janeiro hit the helicopter pilot in the leg, causing him to lose control and crash in a nearby football field, a police spokesman said.

The official -- speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to discuss the event -- earlier said all four people in the helicopter had escaped alive, but later said two of those aboard had died.

The pilot and another surviving officer aboard suffered burns.

Television images showed the blackened wreckage of the chopper in the middle of the football field.

Police were not able to say if this was the first time one of their helicopters had been shot down.

The helicopter crashed about five miles (eight kilometers) southwest of one of Rio's 2016 Olympic zones will be located. The city won the Olympic bid earlier this month despite concerns about security.

Intense fire fights between rival drug gangs broke out shortly after midnight in the Macacos slum as one gang tried to seize a rival's territory.

Police moved into the area in the early morning, though gunfire continued s.

The spokesman said three bodies were found in a vehicle in the slum, though it was not clear if they were involved in the shootouts.

Violence also broke out Saturday in the Jacarezinho neighborhood, where a commuter bus was set on fire. Police did not have details of that event, though gangs sometimes set buses aflame to protest police operations.

Despite increased policing efforts, Rio remains one of the world's most dangerous cities. The violence generally is contained within slum areas, though it sometimes spills into richer neighborhoods nearby.

Comments

[rodrigo72]

03:13 PM on 11/30/2009

In Brazil use the recent breakout as a reason to invest in nuclear energy.

We are the sixth world reserves of uranium. Our politicians want to use it to make money and international influence.

Why do you think that Brazil was not against Iran's nuclear program?

This is the reality of Brazil! Unfortunately.

[AndreMachado]

03:46 PM on 10/20/2009

Thats nothing really, I live in Rio and have only been robbed twice in my life, just dont go to the places where its risky to go, and theres no way something bad can happen to you.

If you have a police helicopter, flying over a gang fight on a favela, then you better expect they wont show you respect or sympathy, its a known fact they have armor piercing weaponry, so wtf were they doing up there, I dont know ...

[sonoffestus]

12:15 PM on 10/20/2009

I don't think there will be too many records set considering the weight of all that body armour being worn.

Having been to Rio , I know it to be a war zone. I know Chicago has big problems , but it is small time compared to Rio. Just read a few posts from people who have been or lived there.

[TAIsabel]

04:48 PM on 10/19/2009

It is actually worse than you even hear! Check out the following story. Have been there several times, unless they raze the favelas and kill everyone in them, I do not see them ending this gang war.



http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/05/091005fa_fact_anderson

[ArcEnCiel]

04:03 PM on 10/19/2009

We were told there was crime in Chicago...

[trinity]

11:23 PM on 10/19/2009

According to the dittoheads yes...but I don't recall the gangbangers shooting police helicopters out of the sky...

[OldSkooler]

11:04 AM on 10/19/2009

Here's what I fear about Rio hosting the 2016 Olympics:

That the police and the paramilitary quasi-official vigilantes will storm through the favelas and just murder indiscriminately to clear the city out of undesirables.

Already the police commit something like 20% of the murders and those are just the murders that get counted.

I think they will use the Olympics as an excuse for mass murder on a huge scale.

[TAIsabel]

04:50 PM on 10/19/2009

Very, very possible! Check this out:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/05/091005fa_fact_anderson

[Andman0121]

08:20 PM on 10/19/2009

Now while I agree that the police there may be committing this sort of stuff in preperation for the Olympics I have to insist on citation of fact on this one. That seems outrageous.

[SangZe]

08:38 AM on 10/19/2009

The Rio Olympics will be interesting, indeed. Bring your flak jacket.

[OdysseusNemesis]

07:39 AM on 10/19/2009

Human beings being copycats, the question is whether there will be more incidences like this around the world. And could it be the beginning of an anti-missile fitted TV and Police helicopters?

[shotei]

07:27 AM on 10/19/2009

I was born in Rio and I have lived here my whole life. Even though I have never been robbed, 90% of the people I know have been, which makes me conclude I am just lucky. Police can't be trusted and crime has become banalized. São Paulo, the largest city, has just broken the record of armored cars in the world. An average of 2500 are murdered in Rio every year. These are alarming numbers and that's why I was against the olympics being hosted by Rio. It may come out as cynical, but in seven years, the city will by no means be ready to host such an event. Social problems are so rooted here that this time seems pathetic. All we'll see is a whole bunch of people getting richer because of the Games and the city will have its cosmetic makeup, just like what happened in the pan american games.

[Usama]

05:55 AM on 10/19/2009

Crime is not only about poverty. When crime becomes pervasive, it becomes engrained into the culture. But the when the social structure collapses as families break apart and sex outside of marriage becomes the norm as fatherhood and family no longer have value, young males become cultured in criminalism. This is evident in urban gang cultures throughout the world.

The gang structure has replaced the family structure as the pillar of the specific community thanks to the liberal social standards of modern law. America has been unable to reverse the power of gang culture in its urban areas. And when gangs dont form, criminal enterprises do, such as drug families.

Its a societal dilemma not solely based on economics.

[KIVPossum]

08:38 AM on 10/19/2009

Are you talking about Rio or any city in America?

[mamacat]

05:28 AM on 10/19/2009

Read somewhere that 20% of the entire world's economy is dependent on the illegal drug trade. I find statistics like that very depressing.

[KIVPossum]

03:12 AM on 10/19/2009

Why don't we hire some of these guys and send them to Afghanistan?

[mamacat]

05:30 AM on 10/19/2009

Standards for getting into today's military have already been lowered so far that it is shameful.

[cdchicago]

12:49 AM on 10/19/2009

Drug gangs shoot down Police helicopter?

Which Olympic sport is this?

Seriously, drug violence in Rio is neither a surprise nor unanticipated. But they have a steep hill to climb.

[ILuvBubbles]

10:01 PM on 10/18/2009

Poverty + Demand for Drug = Violence

End poverty
End the demand for drugs
Until then no peace.

[RefreshingTaste]

01:51 AM on 10/19/2009

Michael Jackson wasn't poor.

[bismillah001]

02:30 AM on 10/19/2009

Know the difference between + and = ?

[jozzie]

09:07 PM on 10/18/2009

I've been to Rio several times. No one likes or trusts the police -- from the lowliest favelah-dweller to the middle-class well-educated Euro-Brazilian.

You've got to stay in certain areas and always ask about a new area, even if it looks OK. No one will come to your assistance if something bad happens to you. Brazilians are lovely charming people, but they will not get between you and a knife.

Violence spilling out of the slums happens far less often than it does in Chicago, so this is really a non-issue. Rio's crime statistics are high because they really reflect intra-slum crime.

So if you're going to Rio for the Olympics, have fun!!!

[PKatherine]

11:20 PM on 10/18/2009

euro-brazilian?

[mmiii]

11:17 AM on 10/19/2009

"lowliest favela dweller to the middle-class well educated Euro-Brazilian"

Very interesting statement.

[KHia Grace]

12:41 PM on 10/19/2009

mmiii said: "lowliest favela dweller to the middle-class well educated Euro-Brazilian"
Very interesting statement."

With the exception of a few sports figures and even fewer soap opera stars and low-level politicians and of course Lula (who probably considers himself white), most well-educated and rich folks in Brasil are euro-Brasilian and/or consider themselves white.


Have you been to Brasil? It is my favorite city in the world---I think I've been there 12 times and lived there for a short while, but when it's bad, it's very, very bad. Picture being robbed at a bus stop. Now pictured being 1 of 20 people at the same bus stop being robbed at the same time by 1 or 2 vandals. They just worked their way down the line, robbing each waiting customer. Now that's BOLD. Nobody ran because the criminals have mind-control. My ex (a Brasilian), once saw a murder on a city bus, and buses are kidnapped/robbed quite often. Cariocas (Rio-inhabitants) are the most friendly you will ever meet, but don't take the favela tour....! Really, there's a tour of the slums.

I think the Olympics visitors, for the most part, will be ok. But, like Carnival, a few tourists will be reminded that they are not in Kansas anymore!
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/brazilian-drug-gangs-shoo_n_325059.html