A man has been shot and around 30 people have been taken hostage by a gunman at a mall in Manila, yesterday afternoon. The injured man was taken to a hospital nearby and is now in a stable condition. Armed police and negotiators tried to end the standoff peacefully.
The gunman, reported to be a former security guard at the V-Mall in Manila’s San Juan City, has allegedly shot a man as he entered the administration office and was holding an estimated 30 hostages inside.
The gunman threatens that he also has a grenade but authorities couldn’t confirm it at the time.
A police SWAT team was seen entering the four-storey mall, which has more than 100 outlets. Shoppers were evacuated and a security cordon established around the shopping precinct. The gunman was laid off by the company that provides security for the mall and had tried to get other guards involved in the situation.
“He was demanding to speak to his former colleagues by video call and was trying to get other guards to join him for some sort of coup d’etat against the mall management,” reports said.
SOURCE: Reuters
