Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Gunmen killed five people in Rio de Janeiro’s poor outskirts in an attack blamed on rival drug gangs, police said Sunday.
Authorities said a group of eight hooded men shot the victims – mostly young men – Saturday night at a school in the city of Nova Iguacu. Police investigator Fabio Pacifico Marques told the Agencia Estado news service that the motive was likely related to drugs.
No arrests had been made and police had no suspects.
Rio, one of the most violent cities in the world, has been hit by successive waves of brutal killings over the last several months. Less than a month ago, five young men and teenagers stole a car and dragged to death a 6-year-old boy who got stuck in his seat belt while trying to escape.
Three French citizens were also stabbed to death Tuesday near Copacabana beach by assailants who apparently wanted to protect a Brazilian accountant accused of stealing money from a non-governmental aid organization where the French nationals worked.
Hundreds of people attended a Mass honoring the aid workers on Sunday. Police said three men were arrested in the attack, including the accountant who confessed.
Most of Rio’s killings are confined to city’s vast shantytowns, but the French nationals were killed in an upscale building less than a block from the beach.
