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Raps filed vs. San Juan mall hostage taker
INQUEST. Alchie Paray (in orange shirt) undergoes inquest proceedings before the San Juan City Prosecutor’s Office on charges illegal possession of firearms, serious illegal detention, frustrated murder and illegal possession of bladed weapons on Wednesday (March 4, 2020). Paray held hostage around 70 employees of the V-Mall inside the Greenhills Shopping Center on Monday.
(Photo courtesy of San Juan City Police via PNA)
MANILA – The San Juan City police on Wednesday filed charges against the suspect in the hostage-taking incident in a mall in the city.
Col. Jaime Santos, city police chief, accompanied former security guard of Safeguard Armor Security Corp. (Sascor) Alchie Paray during inquest proceedings before Assistant City Prosecutor Esperanza Arceo-Paras on charges of illegal possession of firearms, serious illegal detention, frustrated murder and illegal possession of bladed weapons.
After the inquest proceedings, Santos asked Paray to explain a video clip showing a police officer in civilian clothes who tried to pull out something from his pocket when security forces were trying to pin him down Monday night.
“The truth is I was just handcuffed. They performed a search on me. I have nothing to do with illegal drugs,” Paray said in Filipino in a video clip sent to reporters.
Meanwhile, NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas also clarified that the object pulled out from the pocket of the policeman was a mere handcuff.
“He pulled out his handcuff and tried to give it to the arresting officers. It was his intuition to lend a hand to his fellow police officers who were apprehending the resistant suspect,” Sinas said in a statement.
He urged the public not to be misled and misinformed on the incident.
“Let us not get our countrymen misled and misinformed. We have no other intention that night but to pacify the crisis, to rescue the victims and apprehend the suspect safely. No untoward incident happened to him last (Monday) night while he was under the custody of San Juan City Police Station as I have visited him yesterday (Tuesday). He will be safe and properly investigated, the public can be assured of that,” he stressed.
Paray held hostage around 70 employees of the V-Mall inside the Greenhills Shopping Center on Monday.
Authorities recovered from him a .45-caliber pistol, two magazines with 16 live ammunition and a tactical knife after a nine-hour standoff. He remains in the custody of San Juan City Police.
Paray, who was fired from his job after going absent without official leave, claimed that corruption and unfair treatment by his superiors prompted him to resort to hostage-taking.
