Three dead, six injured, the entrances to the city strewn with booby traps, three trucks thrown across to block the roads and then set on fire. Finally, the escape, with the hostages as a shield, tied to the hoods and roofs of the cars, while a drone hovered overhead observing the movements of the police.
Night of terror in Araçatuba, a town of 200,000 inhabitants, 500 kilometers west of São Paulo. A commando made up of at least 20 people (some even went as far as 50) arrived on board ten cars after midnight on Sunday. Armed with automatic rifles, wearing camouflage suits and balaclavas, they blocked the accesses to the city with a series of bombs and with weapons drawn they threatened the few passers-by present. One who started filming the scene was mowed down by a flurry.
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A cyclist who accidentally hit one of the bombs exploded in the air and found himself without legs. People fled in panic as the commando, experienced, militarily trained people, headed to two branches of two banks and emptied the vaults.
The police were unable to cross the fire barrier created by the trucks set on fire. But his intervention would have been of little use. The action was lightning fast. The wounded were reached by some bullets that the bandits continued to shoot to make their way in the assault on the banks and then in the escape.
One of the three dead is a personal trainer who was on site. His name was Marcio Victor, he was 32 years old. The other is Renato Bortolucci, 45, and he ran a service station. The third should be a member of the gang perhaps reached by the first reaction of the police. But escape was the most dramatic action. The bandits took about ten hostages. They shielded themselves as they reached their cars and then grabbed four of them and tied them to the hoods and roofs.
From the houses, behind the barred windows, some inhabitants took up the scene which was then posted on social networks. Fragments of those images show some men lying on the roof of a car and on the hood. They hold up with difficulty even if they are tied with buckles attached to the windows. Words of condemnation by the authorities and the governor of the State of Sao Paulo, João Doria: “A real terror”. Classes on Monday suspended due to the risk of new explosions.
The city is still littered with the bombs left by the commandos. The men of the GATE, the elite tactical support units, arrived from three cities were sent to the scene. Everything suggests that the authors are elements of the CCP, the Primeiro Comando da Capital, the dominant Cartel in Sao Paulo.
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