Hostages from Manila mall released, gunman surrenders (2nd Ld)

The Philippine police ended a 10-hour hostage incident in Metro Manila on Monday, convincing the gunman to free all the hostages and surrender himself to the authorities. Around 30 people taken hostage by the gunman were released and left the V-Mall in the San Juan City of Metro Manila.

Manila, March 2 The Philippine police ended a 10-hour hostage incident in Metro Manila on Monday, convincing the gunman to free all the hostages and surrender himself to the authorities. Around 30 people taken hostage by the gunman were released and left the V-Mall in the San Juan City of Metro Manila.

The hostage-taker identified as Archie Paray, a former security guard of the mall, exited the building later and surrendered to the policemen around 8.18 p.m. Paray, who had a pistol and grenades, agreed to leave his weapons in the shopping mall, Xinhua reported.

The hostage-taker was allowed to speak to the public after he left the building but policemen tackled him from behind while he was airing his grievances before the media and authorities, and arrested him. Criminal charges are expected to be filed against him.

The 32-year-old hostage-taker entered the mall in the up-scale district in Manila around 10 a.m., shot and wounded a mall guard and took around 30 people, mostly employees of the mall, as hostages inside the mall's administration office.

The wounded victim was sent to a nearby hospital and in stable condition.

San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora and the management of the shopping mall confirmed that Paray is a disgruntled former security guard who was fired from his job.

An initial investigation from the city administration and police showed the hostage-taker has been unsatisfied with his layoff, which may be the motivation of his move.

Shortly after Paray held people hostage, policemen locked down the shopping mall and asked the mall-goers to stay away from the area.

The authorities and policemen then started to negotiate with the hostage-taker in the afternoon while dozens of heavily-armed special policemen were deployed and surrounded the mall.

( With inputs from IANS )