Dog Day Afternoon in Sao Paulo

Nearly 40 people were held hostage for 10 hours inside a bank in the city of Taubate, in Sao Paulo State, this Wednesday. The action, reminiscent of the 1970s movie 'Dog Day Afternoon', was not even a bank robbery. Rather, security guard Jose Ramos, who had started working at the bank branch on Monday, wanted to talk to his former girlfriend, who he had not seen in 7 years. After forcing employees and clients to remain inside the branch, he ordered police to find his former girlfriend and get her to call him there. He only released the hostages after she called him, nearly ten hours after he started his action. Nobody was hurt, despite Ramos firing 10 shots during the time he remained at the bank. The shots hit walls and the ceiling. Ramos was later arrested by police. His mother told police he is under psychiatric treatment and has to take prescription medicine for his illness regularly.