RIO DE JANEIRO—Brandishing a fake gun, a man on Aug. 20 took dozens of hostages on a bus in Brazil and threatened to set the vehicle on fire with gasoline before police shot him dead in a four-hour standoff on Latin America’s longest bridge.
All the hostages were freed unharmed on a 13-kilometer (8-mile) bridge that offers a sweeping view of Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer. The panoramic setting where the man made his move seemed to reflect a bid for maximum publicity in a spot with virtually no chance of escape.
