SAO PAULO A Brazilian man on Monday shot dead his mother, his ex-wife and three other relatives then held his three young sons hostage for several hours before surrendering to police.
"Thank God, it's over. After hours of negotiations he released the children, who are in hospital now," said a police officer in Arcos in the state of Minas Gerais, some 250 miles (400km) north of Sao Paulo. He said the three boys were being treated for shock and the effects of inhaling cooking gas.
Otavio de Oliveira, 38, had threatened to blow up six cooking gas bottles if police tried to arrest him as he held his children hostage in his home. Police said he had opened some of the gas bottles.
De Oliveira had recently retired from Brazil's air traffic authority Infraero due to mental problems. Police said they suspected he went on the killing spree because he had failed to persuade his ex-wife to return to him.
The rampage started in the morning when Oliveira, armed with a revolver, entered his mother's house, shooting her and his brother.
He went on to his former wife's house, killing her, her mother and one of her brothers. He seriously wounded a second brother in the house.
Then he returned home and locked himself inside with his sons while his daughter escaped to safety.
(Reuter)