Hostage-taker Asari Pangalasan (Mindanao Examiner Photo – Dodong Ramos)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 27, 2013) – Police arrested a man who took hostage a sales lady of a local shopping store on Saturday in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga, officials said.
Officials said Asari Pangalasan, of Sinunuc village, grabbed Maria Barbara dela Cruz, who works at OK Bazaar, and held a kitchen knife on her throat.
Policemen who responded to the hostage-taking managed to disarm Pangalasan and safely rescued the woman.
Pangalasan, according to police investigators, could be suffering from a mental problem and that he held the woman hostage in exchange for a blood supply.
It was not immediately known how the Pangalasan managed to pass through security and walked through the third floor where the woman was working.
Dela Cruz, apparently shaken by the incident, was trembling throughout the police investigation.
Store supervisors did not give any statement about the failed security in OK Bazaar, one of the oldest stores in Zamboanga City. (Dodong Ramos)
20