Posted on 08/22/2010 9:10:07 PM PDT by rawhide
(UPDATE) MANILA, Philippines – A dismissed police official has taken hostage 25 passengers of a tourist bus, including some children, in Manila this morning, a radio report said.
The report said Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza, formerly with the Manila Police District-mobile division, was sacked from service for drug charges.
Armed with an M-16 assault rifle, Mendoza boarded a Hong Tai tourist bus that was parked at the Luneta Grandstand in Manila.
Mendoza allegedly demanded to be reinstated to his previous post with benefits, the report added.
As of posting time, SWAT members have already surrounded the bus where Mendoza and his hostages, which reportedly include three Filipinos and 22 Hong Kong nationals, are holed out.
Police are said to be negotiating with the hostage taker.
Meanwhile, a separate radio report said two of the hostages have already been released as of posting time.
Sure thing, right away!
Oh, yeah! That’ll get him his job back!
Yea let him keep his badge as a souvenir and get 3 squares and a cot. LOL
Man, with logic and thinking like this guy, he could always come to the US... he’d fit right in with most all of the cops here...
Mendoza allegedly demanded to be reinstated to his previous post with benefits...
sounds like he would fit right in in Philly!
His demands seem reasonable enough.
Sounds like any union member in America. I thought this was in California somewhere.
He told live radio he would kill the captive tourists if police approached.
“I can see a lot of SWAT (special weapons and tactics police) coming in. I know they will kill me,” the gunman told the Radio Mindanao Network.
“They should all leave because anytime I will do the same here.”
Earlier he pasted a handwritten, signed note to the door of the bus which read: “Big deal will start after 3pm today.”
Also stuck to the bus door was a piece of paper with the handwritten message: “Big mistake to correct a big wrong decision.”
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