Hostage Standoff in Brazil Took Place at Hotel Where Nogueira Brothers Were Guests

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A bellboy was taken hostage by a 30-year-old man Monday at St. Peter Hotel in Brasilia, Brazil. Among the hotel’s guests were veteran fighters Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, who told Brazilian news outlet G1 that they couldn’t believe what was occurring at first.

“I went downstairs for breakfast and saw all the rooms’ doors open. The restaurant was closed and empty. That’s when the receptionist called and warned us there was a kidnapper,” Rodrigo said. “At first, I thought it was funny, because I’ve never seen something like that in Brazil. We stayed inside our room. Then, the police said there was a gas leak, so they could evacuate the hotel.”

The kidnapper, identified as Jac Souza dos Santos, previously worked as a secretary for the Brasilia city government and said his actions were politically motivated. He claimed to be taking “terrorist action,” and amongst his requests to release the hostage was the dismissal of President Dilma Rousseff.

The Nogueira brothers eventually exited the hotel, and “Minotauro” described what he saw once he was able to get outside.

“It was full of people down there: policemen, firemen and curious civilians. By the time I got out of the elevator, a lot of police officers were going up,” said Rodrigo. “I only realized how serious it was when I looked down from the window. I have never seen such thing in Brazil.”

After almost eight hours of negotiations with the police, dos Santos surrendered. The gun and explosives wielded by the kidnapper turned out to be all fake. Dos Santos told the police that he did it all for the Brazilian people, and that he plans to take further actions. He remains in police custody, where he will undergo psychiatric examination.

Vinicius Giglio contributed to this report.