5 Teens Gunned Down Near Rio de Janeiro

Five teenagers were shot to death and a 12-year-old boy was wounded in the city of Duque de Caxias, near Rio de Janeiro, authorities reported Tuesday.

Several masked and armed men approached the group of 12- to 18-year-olds as they were chatting on the street near the entrance to the Parque Paulista sector in Duque de Caxias on Monday night and opened fire, according to police sources cited by the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency.

Two of the victims were 18 and the other three were between 12 and 15, and the boy who survived the massacre is out of mortal danger and is recovering from his wounds at the Adão Pereira Nunes State Hospital in Duque de Caxias, the police source said.

The Rio Civil Police are reviewing images from local security cameras to determine who was responsible for the murders, according to a police communique, which added that several lines of investigation are being pursued in the case.

Agencia Brasil reported that authorities suspect that the murders were the work of a drug trafficking band that wanted to set up sales points in the neighborhood.

On Tuesday morning, about 100 local residents staged a protest against rising crime on the route linking Rio de Janeiro with the city of Petropolis.

Two buses were pelted with stones and an automobile was set on fire during the protest, authorities said.

Published in Latino Daily News