Cavite hostage-taker shot dead

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – A drug dependent was gunned down while an eight-year-old boy sustained minor injuries when police staged an assault to end a five-hour hostage-drama in Kawit, Cavite Thursday night.

The hostage-taker, William Villanueva, 38, died from multiple gunshot wounds. His victim, Clyde Ivan Reyes, 8, was rushed to Crisostomo Hospital in Bacoor due to bruises on his arm.

Superintendent Romano Cardino, intelligence chief of the Cavite police, said Villanueva, apparently high on drugs and brandishing a kitchen knife, barged into the Reyes residence in Barangay Binakayan and took the boy hostage.

The boy’s mother Nina and two siblings managed to run out of the house. Barangay officials promptly sought police help.

“We tried all possible ways (for Villanueva) to surrender peacefully, but (he) ignored the five-hour negotiations conducted by the formed hostage crisis management (team),” Cardino said.

He said the assault was carried out when Villanueva threatened to kill the boy at around 10:10 p.m.