CEBU CITY – A distraught man was arrested after he held his family hostage on Monday morning, April 22, in Barangay Tisa here.
Police said the 42-year-old suspect was armed with an aluminum pipe when he took his 39-year-old wife and their two children, aged 11 and six, hostage inside their house.
Operatives of the Labangon Police Station headed by Police Major Eraño Regidor rushed to the area and talked to the suspect.
Regidor said they learned that the man took his family hostage because there were people who had been following him.
Regidor said they also learned that the man had not slept in the past four days after using illegal drugs.
Police also suspected that the man suffered from nervous breakdown.
Regidor disclosed that during the negotiation, the man asked a media personality to be in the area.
He pretended that he was the media man that the man was looking for. It was only during that time that the suspect surrendered.
“We are still assessing him. He becomes panicky when he sees other people. That's why we coordinated with barangay health workers for the possibility of injecting him with an antidote so he will calm down,” said Regidor.
Depending on the assessment, the man could be charged for alarm and scandal, Regidor said.
Police also discovered that it was not the first time that the man got involved in a hostage-taking as he committed the same offense in 2018.