A composite of pictures show policemen taking the hostage victim to safety as another group takes the body of the hostage-taker out of the bus along Taft Avenue in Manila after he was shot by a policeman on Thursday. The incident which started at 2:20 p.m. was declared resolved at 2:50 p.m. Photos by Ruy Martinez and Russell Palma
Police gunned down a man who barged inside a bus and took a student hostage on Thursday in Manila.
Several passengers were injured when they jumped off the windows while the hostage taker was holding Maria Salvador, 16, a student from the Technological University of the Philippines. Salvador sustained bruises on the neck.
Senior Inspector Dionel Brannon, head of the Lawton Police Community Precinct, fired at the man who was holding a knife. The bullet hit the hostage taker’s chest.
The man was rushed to the nearby Philippine General Hospital but he died.
Mayor Joseph Ejercito commended the Manila Police District for its quick response.
One of the passengers, Marigold Nicolas, 45, of GMA, Cavite, also sustained injuries.
Nicolas told The Manila Times that the HM Transport bus headed to Alabang left its Lawton terminal at 2 p.m. The hostage taker, who was barefoot, boarded the bus at Rizal Park.
“We realized later that he had a knife tucked in his shorts,” she said.
“Then the suspect shouted ‘you want me to be arrested. I just went out of jail. I hate Visayas,” Nicolas added.
“We rushed toward the back portion of the bus while the suspect pointed his knife at the female student,” she said.
The bus driver, Mario Calebar, and his conductor Sammy Cañete were under investigation.
In August 2010, nine persons, mostly Hong Kong tourists, were killed when a depressed former policeman took hostage bus passengers at the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park.