After more than seven hours of negotiating, police from District 12 decided to use firearms and tear gas to gain entrance into a house in which a hostage was being held, safely rescuing the victim.
The incident occurred at a rented house on Tan Thoi Hiep Road, Tan Thoi Hiep Ward on August 8, when a man took a woman hostage.
Police arrived quickly and surrounded the residence. The hostage-taker's demand was only a taxi to flee the scene. A taxi was sent for, and the hostage taker asked police to move away. After some hours, a crowd of curious neighbours and passers-by gathered.
Surrounding the residence
Local authorities approach the scene
Hundreds of spectators
Tuan’s father
Around 2:30pm the crowd lost patience and knocked down the door by force, but the man threatened to burn the victim with cooking gas. Finally, the man's mother arrived on the scene and tried to persuade him to give up. This did not work, however, and when a motorbike arrived, upon request of the man, tensions only rose. Nearly an hour later, police decided to open fire and use coercive means to extract the victim.
Family members identified the kidnapper as a man named Tuan, 31 years old.
Taxi sent to the site
Tuan’s father said he still lives with his parents and has a drug addiction. They said that Tuan had taken in a woman named Chi 10 years older than him despite his family's protest. According to them, when Tuan asked the woman for money to buy drugs and he refused, there was a domestic disturbance. Tuan then took Chi hostage.