Kuala Lumpur: Thirty kindergarten children and their teachers, who were held hostage by a hammer-wielding man, were rescued on Thursday after Malaysian police shot him in the head to end a seven-hour-long standoff drama.
The incident happened at a kindergarten in Muar town in southern Johor Bahru state when the man armed with a hammer walked into the school and shut himself, the children and teachers in a room on the second floor.
The man initially told police negotiators to give him a gun or he would kill the kids.
The man, who has not yet been identified, reportedly calmed down later when a local psychiatrist talked to him. The police managed to storm into the two-storey building after throwing tear gas shells into the compound.
State deputy police chief Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman told reporters the man was in critical condition after he was hit by a single shot in the head and has been sent to the nearby Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital.
"All the 30 children, aged between three and five years, and their four teachers are safe," he said, adding they were sent to the hospital for a check up.
The man is believed to have two records of breaking into kindergartens, in 2009 and 2010 similarly armed with a hammer. The case is being investigated for attempted murder and kidnapping.
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