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On March 2nd, a former security guard took approximately 30 people hostage, while one man was shot, in a shopping mall in Manila, Philippines.
During the incident, heavily armed police and negotiators were trying to end the standoff peacefully.
Workers and customers were evacuated from the V-Mall shopping centre in the Greenhills area of San Juan, Manila, after gunshots rang out and officers wielding assault rifles rushed to the scene.
A SWAT team was seen entering the mall.
San Juan city mayor Francis Zamora said the former security guard was holding the hostages in an administrative office in the mall and had shot at least one person.
“He is carrying a pistol. He is shouting he has a grenade but we don’t have any way to confirm that for sure,” Zamora said.
“There is already one (person) that was shot already a while ago and has been rushed to hospital,” he said, adding that the victim was in stable condition.
Authorities have begun negotiating with the gunman, who demanded to speak with other guards and the media. The ex-guard, the mayor said, was sacked by the company that provides security for the mall.
“He was trying initially to get the other guards to join him for some sort of coup d’etat against the mall management,” he said.
“We’ll do our best to settle this issue peacefully,” Zamora said, adding the hostage taker was upset over his treatment by his employer.
Breaking: Police are responding to a hostage situation at a mall in Manila, Philippines. Initial reports indicate that there are up to 30 hostages and the suspect is a former security guard. pic.twitter.com/PL0EHwrL9O
— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) March 2, 2020
Manila was the site of high-profile 2010 hostage taking that ended in the deaths of eight tourists from Hong Kong.
That day-long ordeal started when an ex-police officer, armed with an M-16 assault rifle, hijacked a bus near Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from police headquarters, in a desperate bid to get his job back.
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