RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian army is investigating the death of a man in Rio de Janeiro whose car was hit by 80 shots fired by members of the armed forces.

Authorities say soldiers mistook the car driven by 46-year-old Evaldo dos Santos Rosa for that of criminals. Rosa was killed and his wife’s stepfather wounded. Relatives say his wife, 7-year-old son and another woman were unharmed.

The army initially said it had responded to gunfire from attackers on Sunday. But police say no arms were found in the car and the military eventually changed its statement.

Police say all evidence points to a homicide.

New President Jair Bolsonaro has vowed to unleash the security forces to battle the country’s rampant crime and violence. </s> A car ploughed into a crowd in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, the second-most populous municipality in Brazil.

The accident, which happened on Friday in the seaside promenade, led to the death of a baby, while 17 people were injured.

The 41-year-old driver told investigators he had suffered a seizure, the Rio military police said on Friday.

According to the police, the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle.

“There were no indications of a terrorist attack,” the Rio military police said on Twitter.

Two children and an Australian tourist were among those injured. (dpa/NAN) </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption A wrecked car stood outside one of the banks targeted by the gang

At least five hostages, including a child, have died as armed police battled robbers who had tried to raid two banks in north-east Brazil.

Six other people also died in the gun battle in the city of Milagres, reports say. It is not clear if they were robbers or police officers.

The mayor of Milagres, in Ceara state, said the hostages were killed by their captors as police moved in.

Two suspected robbers were arrested, Brazilian media reported.

Four of the hostages, including the child, were all from the same family, city mayor Lielson Landim told Radio Band News.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A wrecked car stood outside one of the banks targeted by the gang

According to initial reports, police surprised the robbers in the early hours of the morning and engaged them in a shootout. The gang then fled, reportedly grabbing the hostages on their way.

Mr Landim, quoted by Brazil's Globo newspaper, said the gang had blocked a road with a truck and seized the family from a vehicle that was forced to stop.

"The criminals killed the hostages and the police killed the criminals," he added.

However, a spokeswoman for the state governor said that 12 people had died, including six police officers.

Security officials said police had seized guns and explosives used by the gang. Three vehicles had been used in the attempted robberies on two bank branches, they added. </s> Twelve people, including a number of hostages, have been killed in an attack on two banks in Brazil, an official has said.

Lielson Landin, mayor of the northeast city of Milagres, said six robbers had attacked the banks just after 2.00am on Friday.

What happened next is unclear but local reports said the robbers escaped without any money before hijacking a car on a nearby highway.

In the car was a local businessman and his family, including two children, who are believed to have been five of the hostages killed.

Details on the sixth hostage are unclear but it was thought that he had also been near the road.

The robbers reportedly killed the hostages when police approached.

After a shoot-out lasting about 20 minutes, the robbers were also killed, according to Mr Landin, who said that "the criminals killed the hostages and the police killed the criminals".

An unidentified resident told R7: "I could not sleep with the noise of the shots and I also could not leave the house to know what was happening.

The head of the Secretariat of Public Security and Social Defense Andre Costa told Diario de Nordeste that two people had been arrested.

He added: "We still do not know what happened.

"There was an exchange of shots.

"The preliminary information we received is that one of the criminals arrested ended up saying that he killed people who were in the place and were not of the gang."

He also said that it was too early to blame police for the deaths of the hostages, the newspaper reported.

Milagres is in the state of Ceara, which is one of Brazil's most violent. </s> Eleven people were killed in a massacre at a bar in northern Brazil, according to media reports. Seven hooded gunmen arrived at Wanda’s Bar in Belem in three cars and a motorcycle, and opened fire—killing six women and five men. Police told the O Liberal newspaper that the bar was a drug front and that several victims had drugs on them. Brazil, which had 64,000 murders last year, is wracked by gang violence, and troops were sent to Belem this spring to keep the peace. </s> A car has driven onto the crowded seaside boardwalk along Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, and Brazilian authorities say at least 11 people have been injured.

Police officers stand next to the a car after the incident.

The Twitter account of Brazil's military police force reports the number of injured and says the driver in today's (Thursday night's Brazil time's) incident has been taken into custody.

A witness reports seeing at least one child among the injured.

The car stopped in the sand after it apparently crossed the wide sidewalk that runs between the beach and a busy road. Several people were knocked down and lying on the ground. </s> An infant was killed when motorist who says he lost control of his car drove into the crowded seaside boardwalk along Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday evening. At least 15 others were injured and taken to local hospitals.

RIO DE JANEIRO — An infant was killed when motorist who says he lost control of his car drove into the crowded seaside boardwalk along Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday evening. At least 15 others were injured and taken to local hospitals.

Brazilian military police said in an e-mailed statement there was no indication that the incident was a terrorist attack. Several European and American cities have seen terrorist attacks in which drivers plowed into crowds.

Police have arrested the driver, who told them he had not been drinking but had lost control of his car. He also said that he suffered from epilepsy, according to the police statement.

The boardwalk along Copacabana beach was crowded with people on the hot summer night when the car jumped the curb.

A witness reported seeing at least one child among the injured, many of whom were knocked down and were treated initially where they lay on the ground. The car stopped in the sand after it apparently crossed the wide sidewalk that runs between the beach and a busy road. </s> Eleven people have been killed after gunmen reportedly attacked a bar in the capital of Brazil’s northern Para state.

The state security agency confirmed that six women and five men died in the incident in the Guamá area of Para’s state capital, Belém.

The G1 news website said police claimed seven gunmen were involved in the attack, which left one other person wounded.

In late March, the federal government sent National Guard troops to Belém to reinforce security in the city for 90 days.

Brazil hit a record high of 64,000 homicides in 2017, 70 per cent of which were due to firearms, according to official statistics.

Much of Brazil’s violence is gang-related. In January, gang attacks brought the city of Fortaleza to a standstill with commerce, buses and taxis shut down.

Fogo Cruzado, a group that monitors shootings in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, said there were 2,300 shootings in Rio and its suburbs during the first 100 days of this year.

Killings attributed to police gunfire in Rio de Janeiro state have reached a record high, rising 18 per cent in the first three months – a spike partly attributed to a campaign of a zero tolerance for criminals being pushed by state leaders.

One of new president Jair Bolsonaro’s main campaign promises was that he would loosen Brazil’s strict gun laws, arguing that because criminals are well-armed with illegally obtained guns, “upstanding citizens” should have the right to defend themselves with legally bought weapons.

Mr Bolsonaro has made good on that promise with two presidential decrees to make buying guns easier, though federal prosecutors are hoping to block this move through the courts. –AP </s> RIO DE JANEIRO: Eleven people - six bank robbers and five hostages, including a child - were killed Friday (Dec 7) in a pre-dawn assault on two banks in northeast Brazil foiled by police, the local mayor said.

The violence erupted in the city of Milagres, in the northeastern state of Ceara, with a fierce pre-dawn shootout between the armed robbers and the police.

"Our information from the hospital is 11 victims killed - six bandits and five hostages," the mayor of Milagres, Lielson Landin, told Radio Band News.

He said four of the hostages, including the child, were all from the same family. They had been grabbed by the fleeing robbers as they were going to the nearby airport to catch a flight.

Landin said that "the criminals killed the hostages and the police killed the criminals."

Some Brazilian media gave higher death tolls, of up to 13, and said the child killed was a 14-year-old boy.

The attempted robbery of the two banks occurred at 2.17am local time. When police arrived, a shootout lasting 20 minutes ensued, reports said.
One person is killed when his car is hit by more then eighty shoots by the brazilian army after his car was mistaken by another one where it was supposed to be criminals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.