1 dead,1 wounded in Sampaloc hostage drama
MANILA, Philippines—The three-hour hostage drama involving a couple in their 40s and their five children in a residential building infront of Trabajo Market along M. Dela Fuente Street, Sampaloc, Manila, ended Wednesday afternoon with one hostage dead and another wounded.
The couple, identified as Dan Dumduma, 44, and wife Luzviminda, 47, were held at gunpoint by a former military man, identified by the police as Master Sgt. Vergante Negosyo.
Police said the suspect’s motive had something to do with the Dumduma couple’s debts.
Police Senior Inpector Rolando Balasabas, chief of Manila Police District Station 4, who served as negotiator, told reporters that Dan died with two gunshot wounds—one in the chest and one in the shoulder— while Luzviminda survived a gunshot wound in the chest. She was rushed by authorities in an undisclosed hospital.
One of the couple’s children, Daniel, recounted to the police how Negosyo barged into their rented apartment unit and pointed a gun to them.
Despite the pandemonium inside the house, the five children managed to escape through the fire exit.
“But I heard gunshots before I went down,” Daniel told police.
Before Negosyo was nabbed by the police, he gave up his handgun and asked for a bottle of mineral water. He still refused to surrender.
Afterwards, he threw a hand grenade to the police and the crowd of curious passers-by who gathered around the vicinity.
The grenade luckily failed to explode but members of Manila Police District’s Ordnance Division, after clearing the area of civilians, decided to trigger its explosion.
Daniel and his siblings are now under the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development as they wait for the recovery of their mother.
Originally posted at 4:46 p.m.
