ABS-CBN News has reported the death of Rolando Mendoza, an ex-police officer who hijacked a tour bus in Manila earlier today. A Sharpshooting team shot him after he took some 20 passengers hostage with an M-16 rifle. The entire hostage situation took place over an 11 hour period and ended with the death of Mendoza. At least 4 of the hostages were killed from early reports, and several others were injured.
Mendoza took over the tour bus this morning after losing his job with the police department about a year ago. Throughout the whole hostage ordeal, Mendoza would write messages, which were usually his demands, on cardboard, and than hold them up to the the windshield of the bus so that authorities could read them. One message stated, “Big mistake to correct a big wrong decision.” This likely implied that he knew he was making a mistake, however it was in response to the mistake made by the department in firing him last years. Another message read, “Media now,” which likely showed that he wanted to speak to the media. Authorities, however would not allow any media to approach the bus. Reports are still surfacing about the conditions of the injured.