A dismissed security guard has taken about 30 people hostage in a Philippine shopping mall, where gunshots rang out earlier and sent people rushing out in panic and prompted police to put the popular area in a security lockdown
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine police on Monday surrounded a shopping mall in an upscale section of Manila after a recently dismissed security guard opened fire and took dozens of people hostage, an official said.
Mayor Francis Zamora of the Philippine capital’s San Juan area said the gunman shot one person at the V-Mall. The victim was in stable condition at a nearby hospital.
Zamora said a negotiator was trying to talk to the gunman — a disgruntled former security guard at the shopping complex — inside a mall administration office.
“He felt bad because he was removed as a guard,” Zamora told reporters, adding that the man tried but failed to convince fellow guards to join him.
The man demanded to talk to fellow guards and the media, Zamora said, but it was not clear if officials would agree to those conditions.
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.
