Suspect shot, 2 hurt in Cavite hostage-taking

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—A four-hour hostage-taking in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, ended with the suspect being shot by the police when he began stabbing his hostages, one of whom was an eight-year-old child, on Saturday afternoon.

The hostage-taker, whose identity was still being determined by the authorities, sustained multiple gunshot wounds after members of the police Special Weapons and Tactics entered the residential Rembulat Compound in Barangay (village) Salitran 1, where the hostage-taking took place inside one of the apartments.

“Around 6 p.m., the police heard the child hostage screaming so they (police) decided to enter the house,” said Dasmariñas City Mayor Elpidio Barzaga Jr. in a phone interview.

Cavite police director Sr. Supt. Arthur Bisnar said the suspect was shot multiple times and was brought to the city’s public hospital.

Bisnar said the suspect, armed with a knife, barged into the compound around 2 p.m. and took hostages Marian Famarin, 20, and her two nieces, Janielsa, 8, and Jeremiah, 1, both surnamed Fajanil. The suspect was not related to the victims.

READ: Knife-wielding man takes 3 hostages in Cavite

Around 3 p.m., the suspect released Jeremiah unharmed but continued to take hold of Famarin and Janielsa.

“He appeared to be under the influence of drugs. He seemed to be out of his mind when he was talking to us,” said Barzaga, who arrived at the scene around 4:30 p.m.

He said the suspect demanded media coverage so they called in local reporters.

“I introduced myself but he said he didn’t know me. He was saying something like his parents had died,” Barzaga added.

Barzaga said the suspect began stabbing the hostages, prompting the police to end the negotiation.

Famarin sustained at least three stab wounds, while Janielsa was stabbed at least five times, Barzaga said. The victims were brought to the Emilio Aguinaldo hospital in the city.

On Oct. 9, a man also took hostage 16 people inside the SM mall in the city. The two-hour incident left two people dead, one of them the hostage-taker himself who was shot by the police.