Brasilia, BRAZIL — Brazilian television aired powerful images of a hostage-stand off situation on Tuesday.
Police say that a man attempted to enter a government building before taking a woman hostage.
A Brazilian man held the woman at knife-point for about an hour in the capital city of Brasilia while police tried to negotiate with him.
According to police, the man, identified as Robson Matias, did not make any demands and did not appear lucid.
The woman appeared to remain calm and even spoke with the man, who pointed two knives at her neck.
They were finally able to rescue the woman when they swooped in from behind and tasered Matias. The hostage broke free, and then they were able to shoot Matias in the leg with a rubber bullet.
There were about 30 police officers involved in the operation.
Afterwards both Matias and the woman he held hostage were taken to the hospital.
It is the second hostage situation in Brasilia in the last six weeks.
A hotel worker was held hostage at the end of September by a man who appeared to be holding a vest full of explosives.
After hours of negotiations, the hostage was finally freed unharmed.
