Heavily armed criminal group ties hostages to getaway cars after storming Brazilian city

[Judi Lynn]

A police officer stands guard in an empty street Monday after a bank robbery in Araçatuba, Brazil. (Lazaro Jr./AFP/Getty Images)

By Terrence McCoy
August 30, 2021 at 8:46 a.m. EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO — A heavily armed group of bank robbers wreaked havoc across a southeastern Brazilian city early Monday, striking several banks, setting fire to vehicles and tying hostages to their getaway cars, in an assault that left at least three people dead, officials say.

Even in a country long accustomed to random spasms of violence, Brazilians reacted with shock and fear.

The group stormed Araçatuba, a city of 200,000 in São Paulo state, around midnight to rob several banks. Gunshots punctured the early-morning quiet. Authorities asked residents to stay inside.

Images on social media and local news reports showed at least 10 people clinging to getaway cars, apparently strapped there to deter fire from police.

The feeling was one of “helplessness,” Mayor Dilador Borges told Rádio CBN. It was a “night of terror.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/30/brazi-crime-hostages-araatuba/

Please take time to check the videos! In case you can't get in to read the article, it does say after the robbers escaped, they let their hostages go. Unbelievable!