Manila hostage-taker surrenders peacefully

Daylong standoff ends as former guard frees dozens before walking out of mall

MANILA－A sacked security guard who shot one person and took about 30 others hostage at a Manila shopping mall gave up peacefully on Monday night, according to a livestreamed video, ending a daylong standoff.

The gunman released all hostages before he left the mall at 8:18 pm.

The suspect, angered by his dismissal, had opened fire at the mall in the morning and barricaded the hostages in an office in the mall.

Mayor Francis Zamora of San Juan in the Philippine capital said the gunman, who was armed with a pistol, shot one person at the V-Mall. The victim was in stable condition at a nearby hospital.

Zamora said a police negotiator had tried to talk to the gunman inside the mall.

"He felt bad because he was removed as a guard," Zamora told reporters during the standoff, adding that the man tried but failed to convince fellow guards to join him. Aside from a pistol, the hostage-taker was yelling that he had a grenade, but authorities did not confirm that.

"We have evacuated all the people in the shopping center and we're in a lockdown here in the entire mall," Zamora said.

An initial police report had said the hostage-taker, who was identified as Archie Paray, shot a mall official before rushing to the second floor of the complex, where he held dozens of mostly employees. The report had said "more or less 50 staff" were being held hostage, but it did not provide other details. Zamora said about 30 to 40 people had been held.

The gunman later had given assurances that the hostages would be released without harm, provided that the authorities did not try to trick him.

'Unequal treatment'

The suspect had complained of "unequal treatment", the police report said.

Paray was dismissed from work after abandoning his job in recent weeks without notifying management, Zamora said. He said the hostages were fine and added that authorities had sought to resolve the situation without further violence.

Among the gunman's demands was the opportunity to speak to former colleagues and to media by video call. The negotiators agreed.

In a bid to appease the gunman, six officers in charge of overseeing the mall's security apologized to the suspect at an early evening news conference for their "shortcomings" and resigned or offered to quit.

More than a dozen SWAT commandos were earlier seen entering the mall, their assault rifles ready. Other policemen stood by outside, along with an ambulance.

The shopping complex, popular for its restaurants, shops, bars and a bazaar, lies near an upscale residential enclave, a golf club and the police and military headquarters in the bustling metropolis of more than 12 million people, where law and order have long been a concern.

Though major hostage incidents are rare in the Philippines, memories are fresh of when a sacked policeman hijacked a Manila bus full of tourists from Hong Kong in 2010, and was killed in a gunfight together with eight passengers when police bungled a rescue.

Agencies - Xinhua