Zamora said the suspect had a pistol with him when he walked down from a second-floor administrative office where he had held dozens of hostages, many of them mall employees. There were between 60 to 70 hostages and people who were trapped in the mall by the standoff, Zamora said. "He was asking if it's the cemetery or prison and I told him, [Alchie], you're safe,'' Zamora said. The gunman shot and wounded a security officer at the V-Mall, part of the Greenhills complex, before he rushed to the second floor and took the hostages, Zamora said. The hostage taker was dismissed after abandoning his job in recent weeks without notifying management, Zamora said.

Source: The Standard March 03, 2020 09:00 UTC