Shanghai Cops Kill Hostage Taker at KFC
Shanghai is good for a really weird story about once a week. This week, the “who” was a 40-year-old man with mental problems. The “what” was a hostage crisis. The “where” was a KFC on the corner of Yangliuqing Road and Wuning Road in downtown Shanghai. The “when” was between 3pm and 9:35pm on Wednesday. And the “why” I already said, the hostage taker was mental. For nearly 7 hours Shanghai police talked down a man who took a 3-year-old girl hostage who was eating lunch with her mother at KFC. The man grabbed the little girl and held her at knifepoint in the crappy plastic play area. The girl’s mother was evacuated from the restaurant during the hostage negotiation and the man’s family was called in to assist in convincing the crazy to let the girl go. Over 100 police and 800 spectators were on hand for the crisis. So what did the hostage taker demand? An airplane? No. A helicopter? Nope. The mental hostage taker requested two large bouquets of flowers and a taxi cab. At 9:34pm, police called on a sharpshooter to take out the hostage taker. A minute later the man was pronounced dead and the toddler was rescued by police (photo) and rushed to a local hospital. According to reports, the police carried out a quick and disciplined strike. The sharpshooter wasn’t just good, he was finger-lickin’ good.
•AP: Police Kill Child-Hostage Taker in China