Police kill armed man who held dozens hostage on bus in Brazil
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A woman sits in a car with a baby as they wait on a blocked access as a Federal Highway Police officer stands next at the busy bridge connecting the city of Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during a hostage standoff. An armed man holding dozens of people hostage on a public bus and threatening to set the vehicle on fire was seized by police after a four-hour long standoff, Brazilian police said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Federal Highway Police officer walks with his weapon as he indicates the way back to the drivers at a blocked access for the bridge connecting the city of Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during a hostage standoff. An armed man holding dozens of people hostage on a public bus and threatening to set the vehicle on fire was seized by police after a four-hour long standoff, Brazilian police said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
People wait at a blocked access of the bridge connecting the city of Niteroi to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during a hostage standoff. An armed man holding dozens of people hostage on a public bus and threatening to set the vehicle on fire was seized by police after a four-hour long standoff, Brazilian police said.
RIO DE JANEIRO >> An armed man who took dozens of hostages on a bus in Brazil was shot dead by police following a four-hour standoff today, authorities said.
All the hostages were freed unharmed during the incident in Rio de Janeiro, state Gov. Wilson Witzel said. The man, holding a gun and a knife, took 37 people hostage around 5:30 a.m. on a busy bridge linking the suburb of Sao Gonçalo to downtown Rio de Janeiro.
Some passengers who were earlier freed by the assailant told police that the man had spilled gasoline in the bus and was threatening to set it on fire.
However, Hans Moreno, one of the hostages, said on TV Globo that the man had appeared “very calm.”
Officials said the man had identified himself as a policeman but that they were not able to confirm this information. He did not make any particular demands, according to police.
“I want to thank the police for its work,” Witzel told TV Globo. This kind of situation “is happening in communities. They have rifles in the communities, terrorizing the communities.”
Rio’s elite police force, known as BOPE, had taken charge of negotiations with the hostage-taker. A sniper was placed nearby. Traffic was blocked in both directions on the bridge, with hundreds of vehicles waiting in line.
Sao Gonçalo, an area struggling with poverty and violence, is separated from Rio by Guanabara Bay. Many use the bridge where the hostages were seized to go to and from work.
