30 Children Escape After Being Held Hostage by Hammer Man
There was drama at a kindergarten today as 30 students and four teachers were held hostage for more than six hours by a man armed with a machete and hammer.
The male perpetrator forced the 3-5 year-olds and their instructors to the upstairs of a two-story building in in the Malaysian suburb of Muar town in Johor state.
The reasons for the seige remain unknown, but in dramatic scenes the man, who was reported by local media to have been mentally unstable, had threatened to kill the children if he was not given a gun and some food.
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According to AFP the father of a five-year-old explained that he had been told the man was armed with both a hammer and a knife.
Police used tear gas before storming the compound at around 1545 local time (0245 EST). That had followed several hours of negotiations, in which time heavily-armed troops from the elite Special Actions Forces and ambulances waited on alert nearby.
It is reported that singing was heard by the group in what is believed to have been efforts to pacify the situation.
Malaysian police force claim they had no choice but to shoot the perpetrator, who remains in critical condition in hospital after sustaining a single bullet wound to the head.
Children and teachers were assessed my medical staff by are thought to have been left unscathed.
