Hostage-taker killed in Surigao City

BUTUAN CITY – Police shot dead a hostage-taker here Friday morning after three hours of negotiation failed, saving the life of a 12-year-old boy.

The hostage-taker, Michael Belarma Puerto Gallera, boarded the Surigao Transport Corporation Bus while it was parking at a bus stop and immediately snatched the victim, the Surigao City Police Office (SCPO) said in a report Saturday.

Gallera, 40, was armed with a kitchen knife and a screw diver, then took the boy hostage, police said.

“We negotiated for three hours but nothing happened. I suspect might be suffering from mental disorder because we cannot understand what he was demanding. He was often changing what it was he wanted,” said Lt. Col. Christian L. Rafols II, SCPO chief.

Rafols said the police even met the perpetrator's demand for a gun at the height of the negotiation.

“We provided him with a handgun. Of course, the gun was unserviceable because we removed its firing pin,” Rafols said.

He said they initially planned to subdue the hostage-taker once he took the unserviceable firearm but backed out from it because of the enormous risk.

“We provided him again with the second firearm without a firing pin but he was still not satisfied,” the police official said.

Rafols said they decided to shoot Gallera when he tried to stab the victim in the chest.

Gallera succumbed to two gunshot wounds and the boy was safely rescued, police said.

Surigao City Mayor Ernesto Matugas Jr., who was at the site to oversee the police operation, commended the police for the successful rescue of the victim. (PNA)

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