A man took around 30 pre-school children hostage in Malaysia’s southern Johor

A man took around 30 pre-school children hostage in Malaysia’s southern Johor state this morning, said police, adding they were in talks to end the stand-off.

“We are still negotiating with the man to release the kindergarten children. He is holding about 30 children,” local police chief Mohammad Nasir Ramli told AFP.

Police said it was not clear whether he was armed. The Star newspaper said the hostage-taker was armed with a hammer.

Sicko!!!

Update: 3:40 (ET) The Star newspaper said in its online edition that the man told negotiators to give him a gun or he would kill the children. It said a psychiatrist, Lau Keen Lee, spoke to the man from outside the building and he appeared to have calmed down.

“He is hungry now and wants some food,” it quoted Lau as saying. The man and the children were on the top floor of the two-floor building, it said.

Update: 8:00AM (ET) After six hours of tense negotiations with the hostage-taker, authorities stormed the kindergarten. The man was shot in the head and was in critical condition, the Bernama news agency said.

During the negotiations the man demanded a gun and said if he did not get the weapon he would harm the children.

Source AFP