Rio Bus Kidnapper Killed After Keeping Hostages for Three Hours
Rio Bus Kidnapper Killed After Keeping Hostages for Three Hours
(Bloomberg) -- Rio de Janeiro police on Tuesday killed an armed man who had taken dozens of bus passengers hostage on a postcard Guanabara bay bridge connecting the capital to a neighboring city.
Shots were heard and then a stretcher was brought to the bus. A sniper from the military police’s special forces "neutralized the target," and the hostages were freed unharmed after being held for more than four hours, according to the Rio de Janeiro police’s Twitter account.
“If that criminal hadn’t been slaughtered, a lot of lives would’ve been lost,” Rio’s Governor Wilson Witzel told reporters.
After a surge over recent years, Rio’s crime indicators have been improving this year as police adopt increasingly aggressive tactics. Concern over deteriorating security helped propel both Jair Bolsonaro to Brazil’s presidency and Witzel to Rio’s governorship last year. Witzel, a former marine, drew support with calls for police to deploy snipers and grant them license to kill.
The incident took place on the Southern Hemisphere’s longest bridge, connecting Rio de Janeiro and the city of Niteroi. It shut down rush hour traffic in both directions, forcing morning commuters to seek other means of transport.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Biller in Rio de Janeiro at dbiller1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Matthew Malinowski
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