Army of Bank Robbers Terrorize Brazilian Cities for Hours

CAMETA, BRAZIL — Only one day after a small army of heavily armed bank robbers besieged the southern Brazilian city of Criciuma, a similarly large group of gunmen besieged the city of Cameta, on the opposite side of the country.

One civilian was killed and another wounded when the gunmen took residents hostage as they looted a bank.

Para state officials said Wednesday that more than 20 criminals with assault rifles attacked a branch of the state-run Bank of Brazil in the city in the Amazon region overnight.

Video on social media showed a line of roughly a dozen hostages being led away from a square in the city of 140,000 people, and shots ringing out in the night.

Local media reported that a military police station was attacked, preventing officers from responding.

"They drove around shooting at the police and at the houses.

It was a horrible scene to see," said Junior Gaia, who lives nearby.

"We were all lying on the floor, afraid they would invade our homes." The coordinated attack came a day after a similar overnight robbery in the southern city of Criciuma, when dozens of gunmen seized the city and took hostages as they used explosives to rob a bank.