Hostage Situation in Rio’s Lapa District Ends with Perpetrator’s Arrest

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Around 2.45 PM on November 29th a man entered into Bar da Preta on Rua do Resende, in the popular tourist and artistic neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro, and took seven individuals hostage.

According to police spokesman Mauro Fliess, the man was armed with three knives, five liters of gasoline and a Molotov cocktail, Streets were blocked off and BOPE (special forces) police were activated.

What followed was a bizarre and protracted stand-off during which the police tried to negotiate the release of hostages. The hostage-taker was named locally as Danilo, a street vendor who sold caipirinhas (Brazilian lime cocktails) close to the Lapa arches.

The day of the incident was apparently his 42nd birthday and during the negotiations he asked for both a birthday cake and a haircut.

He released the first hostages not long after the incident began and then continued to slowly release hostages during the following hours, sending each one away with a bottle of beer from the bar.

Three of the seven taken hostage were employees of Brazilian public news agency EBC, which has offices around the corner.

In addition to family and friends of the hostages, Danilo’s friends and acquaintances were in the area and were concerned for his safety. Rio Police are known to shoot first and think later, and the current hard-on-crime governor Wilson Witzel has openly advocated this type of policy.

At one point friends chanted in support of Danilo, and they expressed concern about snipers on the surrounding rooftops. However, negotiations seemed to run smoothly and some of his friends were allowed to talk to him and said the police were treating him well. At 11.40 PM he was finally immobilized by a taser and arrested.

Danilo’s motive seems to have been an ongoing dispute with the owners of the bar in which the hostages were taken.

Locals reported that Danilo had complained about noise, and tables blocking the entrance to his home above the bar.

Last Sunday he was said to have been shot at and apparently could not solve the situation with police help, which led him to get vengeance, by taking matters into his own hands.