At least 11 dead in an attempted robbery of two banks in San Pablo

RIO DE JANEIRO – At least eleven people were killed early this morning in a shooting with the police during an attempted armed robbery on two state banks in São Paulo de Guararema, 80 kilometers away. to the east of the city of

St.Paul

, Brazil. The deadly victims were criminals. They were part of a group of 25 men arrived in Doutor Hercules Campagnoli street in central Guararema, where there are two bank branches, one of the Banco do Brasil and the other. from Santander.

According to the police, the criminals, dressed in bullet-proof vests, were heavily armed, with guns and machine guns, as well as explosives with which they tried to blow up the banks' ATMs.

The action sparked the immediate reaction of the police, who has a wall antenna in the center of the Banco do Brasil agency, just 500 meters from the Guararema town hall.

The intense shooting provoked panic among the inhabitants of the central area of ​​this tourist town of more than 28,000 inhabitants. Several suspects managed to escape, but others were stranded in the middle of the street.

"It was scary, we were sleeping and our dog started to bark, and then we heard the shots," Vanderleia Gomes told the press, who lives in a house a few feet from the place , with her husband and mother-in-law. A few minutes later, one of the attackers started banging on the door of his home, while pointing a gun at a man who was holding him and threatening to kill him, he did not say anything. did not open. Eventually, the criminal broke down the door, took refuge inside the house and took them all hostage.

The police sought to negotiate with the offender, but the offender refused to surrender his weapon. According to Gomes, a shot was heard, the criminal was shot.

The police said that all the dead were part of the group of attackers, who were already under investigation by the special force of the military police of the state of San Pablo and. by the local prosecutor, who had hinted that they were planning a robbery in the area.

"We did not know the exact location, so we asked the special force to support us in patrols in the area, in the municipalities of Jacareí and Guararema," said Mario Alves da Silva, military police commander. , who pointed out that criminals were equipped as for a "war action".