SAO PAULO—The southeastern Brazilian state of Espirito Santo has turned over security duties to the army as it tries to solve a police crisis that has led to a wave of violence and at least 100 deaths.

Cesar Colnago, the state’s acting governor, told reporters on Wednesday that the 1,000 soldiers already sent to the state were not enough to stem an ongoing tide of violence.

The killings in the state capital of Vitoria and other cities erupted after friends and family of military police officers blocked their barracks over the weekend to demand higher pay for the officers, preventing patrols from cruising the streets.

Brazil’s Military Police force patrols the nation’s cities and is barred, by law, from going on strike.

The union representing civil police officers said 101 people have been killed since police stopped patrolling last Friday night. The state government has not released a death toll.

Some buses circulated for a few hours Thursday morning, but union officials ordered them off the streets after the union’s leader, Walace Belmiro Fernaziari, was shot dead near a bus terminal.

The union said gunmen threatened two bus drivers, telling them they would set fire to buses that circulated.

At least two buses have been torched over the past six days in Vitoria and several stores have been looted. Some shopping malls opened for a limited number of hours. Schools remained closed and medical services at public hospitals were interrupted.

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