due to the police's failure to clear the area of civilians, the disastrous and tragic 4 hour event that ensued was captured on camera and broadcast live on brazilian tv, shocking the nation.

an estimated 35 million brazilians watched on as the hijacker became more and more agitated with the media circus going on around the bus, as he threatening the lives of passengers on the bus and then the public witnessed on prime time tv as the police erroneously shot both the kidnapper and an innocent woman, geisa gonçalves, dead.

the result was social uproar and the tragic event has come to symbolize the urban violence of modern brazil both nationally and internationally.