© ReutersThe armed man was neutralized after a four-hour standoff with police.
The hostage-taker, armed with a gun and a knife, was seen on Brazilian TV exiting the passenger bus and being immediately surrounded by police. He was reportedly arrested at the scene. Rio de Janeiro Gov. Wilson Witzel later confirmed the man had died.
All of the hostages were released unharmed, Rio de Janeiro State Military Police said.
The hostage situation began around 5:30 a.m. local time Tuesday on a busy bridge linking Niteroi to downtown Rio de Janeiro. Police shut down traffic to the bridge - leaving hundreds of vehicles lined up in both directions - and placed a sniper on a nearby perch.
Federal Highway Police said the armed man, who was threatening to set the bus on fire, had been holding 37 people hostage. Negotiations were underway before the standoff ended.
At least 6 of the hostages were released during the incident, telling authorities that the man had spilled gasoline in the bus. They said the man identified himself as a policeman, although this has not been confirmed. One hostage told TV Globo he appeared "very calm" and hadn't been behaving aggressively.
Authorities said the man had not made any particular demands and appeared to have "psychological problems."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reader Comments
This is a common problem, IMHO.
The longtime record holder for a mass shooting spree was in San Ysidro McDonalds in Summer of 1984, where every innocent had been hiding or shot down and he was walking around the well windowed - premises, bitching and griping and the negotiator was telling the snipers to hold back. (I think they finally took him out or he killed himself about an hour of negotiations..*) (I had been in that McDonalds about 2 weeks before that happened..)
I then got back to Florida, and in 1986 another guy who shot up a Palm Bay grocery store and was holding his 'Last?' hostage by the arm, while his RIFLE was held by his other hand and pointed away from her. The police snipers were BEGGING for a green lighht; which never came.
In the San Diego / San Ysidro event, there was NO DOUBT that while the 'police negotiator' was chatting with the sighted in killer, (for an hour?) people would would have survived and who were playing dead DIED from blood loss!!!
Meanwhile, in Florida the guy got talked out/into giving up, all the while he could have been taken out with three rounds at about 20c each. He is STILL on death row costing Floridians some obscene amount per year. (Actually, NOW would be a great time to issue the bastard's warrant!!)
And after millions spent, he was convicted and placed on Death Row, where he reman tto
R.C.
*As a tactical guess, I would say that you might hope to have four to five snipers. One or two aim for the facial triangle/cerebral cortex, the next two for the center of boddy mass. The last shooter remains in case the first shots do not take the killer murderer down.
RC