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An armed gunman held 70 people hostage in a Philippines mall for 10 hours before letting everyone go and holding an impromptu news conference
An armed gunman held 70 people hostage in a Philippines mall for 10 hours before letting everyone go and holding an impromptu news conference
James Pasley,James PasleyMar 3, 2020, 03:05 IST
In Manila, the capital of the Philippines, a disgruntled gunman claiming he had a live grenade took over a mall for 10 hours on Monday.
He held up to 70 people hostage and shot one person, who is now in stable condition.
Unusually, after releasing the hostages, he had an impromptu news conference for 20 minutes explaining why he took the mall hostage in the first place.
A disgruntled former security guard held dozens of people hostage in a mall in the Philippines on Monday. Afterwards he told journalists exactly why he'd done it in a bizarre press conference.
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Archie Paray, 31, was recently fired from V-Mall in San Juan City, Manila, after failing to show up for work after security guards' shifts were changed. On Monday, he entered his former workplace, shot another security guard, then took up to 70 people hostage.
The mall was evacuated. Police and SWAT promptly arrived. The situation was taken seriously. Authorities wanted to avoid a repeat of several other deadly attacks in the Philippines in recent years.
For 10 hours, Paray communicated with the authorities and the media. He showed both the hostages and a grenade, via a video call. Police haven't confirmed he had a real grenade.
By the evening, all of the hostages were released unharmed. But what was unusual was that after releasing the hostages Paray was given a chance - 20 minutes - to voice his concerns to the media. He took journalists' questions and alleged that the mall's security was corrupt. He was then tackled by police and taken into custody.
At about 10 a.m. on Monday morning, a former security guard named Archie Paray opened fire in V-Mall in San Juan City, based in the Philippine capital of Manila.
Paray shot a security guard, who was taken to hospital and is now in stable condition. Then, he entered administrative offices on the second floor, and took between 30 and 70 people hostage. They were mostly employees.
While hostage events aren't common in the Philippines, in 2010, a disgruntled former policeman took over a busload of tourists from Hong Kong, and died in a gunfight along with eight civilians.
More recently, in 2017, a gunman entered a mall-casino also in Manila. He set gambling tables alight, which killed 36 people, primarily from smoke inhalation.
Mayor Francis Zamora of San Juan City explained to reporters that Paray "felt bad because he was removed as a guard." Zamora also said he had called for his former co-workers to join him, but no one did.
Even so, the authorities spent hours on the phone with Paray, asking for him to give up the hostages. In the early evening, in an attempt to appease him, six of the officers, who ran the mall's security, apologized and resigned, or offered to resign.
Paray said he would release the hostages as long as no one tried to trick him. After his safety was guaranteed, he kept his word. In the evening, the hostages filed out.
It was an unusual ending to a hostage situation. Mayor Zamora told reporters, "What is important is that we had zero casualties. That was what we wanted. That the hostages can all go out safe."
