Second heist in Brazilian town in a few days, robbers fight police and kills a local

More than 20 armed robbers attacked a bank in a small Brazilian town on Wednesday. The robbers took hostages and even got into clashes with polices. One person was also killed by these robbers before fleeing in a caravan of vehicles.

The attack took place in the early times of the morning in the northern riverside city of Cameta, which has a community of 140,000 people, was the second such attack heist in the country. The increase in these attacks is raising fear in people.

“They ran around, firing at the police and the houses. It was a terrible scene to see,” said Junior Gaia, who lives nearby, in an interview. “We were all set out on the floor, afraid they would attack the homes,” Gaia added.

The robbers were of men, loaded with high-calibre weapons, storm a subsidiary of Banco do Brasil SA, the Para state defence ministry said.

Images on social media revealed an aggressive firefight on the streets of the town. The robbers killed one prisoner during the heist, the ministry added, while another resident was shot in the leg and is in a critical condition.

“We pray to God to support the family of the young man who lost his life,” Cameta Mayor Waldoli Valente wrote on Facebook.

The crimes took place at the start of December, when bank coffers are filled in expectation of employees retiring their year-end bonuses, according to Cassio Thyone, a council member of the non-profit Brazilian Forum on Public Safety.

“It doesn’t happen without preparation,” Thyone told the Associated Press by phone. “It’s another protest that everything is always pre-planned. They think of the location, and the timing.”

The security ministry declared it found broken getaway vehicle outside the town with shells inside. The town was now calm, it added, with police reserves arriving by plane and boat.