There is tragic news coming from the Philippines today. An ex-police officer by the name of Rolando Mendoza, armed with an M16 rifle entered a bus in Manila last night. There were at least 24 Chinese tourists on the bus, but Mendoza let 9 of them go as he bargained with Police. He apparently demanded his former job back, that he had lost for extortion and robbery back in 2008.

Police had hoped to have a peaceful end to the standoff, but when Mendoza decided to open fire on the passengers, they had to storm the bus. After all was said and done, the hostage standoff ended with several people dead. It is believed that 7 passengers were killed, and 8 people made if off alive out of the 15 remaining passengers on the bus. However, these numbers have not been confirmed, and there are conflicting reports.

Police ended up shooting and killing Rolando Mendoza, 55, to end the standoff.