It seems that some tourists that were staying in a luxury hotel in Rio de Janerio were just recently taken hostage by an armed gang. This was the same gang that was also involved with a big shoot out with police.

Reports state that ten armed members of one of Rio’s most dangerous drug gangs were on the run from police after a raid, and they apparently went running into the InterContinental hotel in the exclusive Sao Conrado area on Sunday. They took some 35 people hostage.

The hostages were later released unharmed after a three hour siege. However, a female gang member was killed and four policemen injured in the shoot out.

In a nearby house, Brazilian sociologist Luiz Eduardo said that they heard the shoot out. He said that it was almost as if the shooting was happening right inside the house. The walls were shaking, and it was about that time that they realized that they were in the center of the shoot out area.

A 48-year-old British business man, Paul Ayscough, said that he was staying in the hotel. He said that there must have been over 1,000 shots fired. He said that he heard a number of different kinds of shots, everything from automatic fire to pistol fire.

Apparently the violence was sparked on Sunday morning when 60 members of the gang were intercepted by police when returning home from an all night party. Some of the gang members were able to flee while 10 others sought refuge in the hotel. This violence has now led to safety concerns in Rio.