One person is shot and dozens are taken hostage at shopping mall in Manila by fired security guard armed with a handgun ‘and a grenade’
- Sacked security guard opened fire at V-Mall in Manila around midday on Monday
- He had tried to get guards to rise up in a coup against management, mayor said
- When that failed he shot a guard, who is in stable condition, and took hostages
- Man, armed with a pistol and grenades, is now holed up with around 30 people
A disgruntled former security guard has opened fire on a mall in the Philippines – injuring one person and taking dozens more hostage.
Gunfire rang out at the V-Mall in the capital of Manila around midday on Monday, with one person – a fellow security guard – shot. He has been taken to hospital in stable condition.
The shooter is now holding around 30 people hostage on the second floor of the mall building with a gun and grenades, Mayor Francis Zamora said.
Mr Zamora said a negotiator was trying to talk to the gunman – a disgruntled former security guard at the shopping complex – inside an administration office.
‘He felt bad because he was removed as a guard,’ he told reporters, adding that the man tried but failed to convince fellow guards to join him.
‘He was trying to initially to get the other guards to join him for some sort of coup d’etat against the mall management,’ he told news channel ANC.
The man demanded to talk to fellow guards and the media, Mr 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 shopping centre with their assault rifles ready.
The mall has been placed on lockdown, and police are negotiating with the hostage-taker.
Most of the hostages are mall vendors, Philippines news site Rappler reports, while the ex-guard has been on holiday without leave for two weeks.
Zamora said it is not yet clear exactly why the guard was fired.
Anna Alberto, whose daughter Pauline works in the office, said she was concerned about her safety.
‘She is there in the office. We cannot contact her so I am worried,’ she said.