Heavily armed bank robbers in Brazil invaded Cameta while taking residents hostage and looting a bank, The Los Angeles Times reported.
More than 20 criminals armed with assault rifles allegedly targeted a branch of the state-run Bank of Brazil in Cameta.
Gunfire and explosions rocked a small Brazilian city when an armed gang of robbers broke into a bank, took hostages and fired their guns indiscriminately to keep police at bay. “It was a night of terror,” the police chief said. https://t.co/dVICgl0DAE
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 1, 2020
A military station nearby was reportedly attacked around the same time, which prevented officers from responding to the bank.
Video from social media allegedly showed a dozen hostages being led away from a square by the heavily armed criminals.
The latest attack in Cameta reportedly comes just one day after a similar robbery at another Bank of Brazil branch in Criciuma. (RELATED: REPORT: 30 Gunmen Storm Bank, Leave 2 Injured And Cash Scattered In Streets)
“Our city was always peaceful and I ask that everyone stay at home,” said Cameta Mayor Waldoli Valente, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Cassio Thyone, a board member for the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, reportedly said that these robberies may have been orchestrated by one of the organized crime and drug-trafficking rings in the country.
As a result of the incident, two people were allegedly shot, including a young man who was killed by the gunfire.