The sniper had a clean shot!

I am glad our story was not sensationalized world wide. News reports claim that international police are securing DVD copies of the whole drama so they could show their trainees in police academies how not to do it in hostage cases. Our morale is really down right now. Thanks for the support, Angel.

Gosh, that was awful. Glad you were able to retaliate. Bullies are everywhere, I guess. They size up someone and attack. When you don't rebut, they even become meaner. Keep safe always Angel, that Football Stadium collapse must have been scary. Must have happened a long time ago but these are experiences we never forget.

Hiya eileen, No actually they did not make a big drama out of it. I don´t know why either. You know what Spain is like for morb and all that. As for the Police bit and the Dvds you have to think that you are not to blame for what one person has done. You are a Nation and that does not make you the same as that Person Heaven Forbid It. If we were all to be classed as being the same as other People who have done bad things. I don´t blame any Countries People for what goes on it´s usually out of their control completely. I was blamed for what happened in 1985 I think it was when part of a Football Stadium fell through and over 80 People got killed and many others injured. She came up tapped me on the back and I said yes then she started loosing out a whole load of abusive language about how I was an animal I should not be living in Spain and so on. I looked at her gone out since I truly had no idea what she was talking about. So I told her I have no idea what you are talking about so she told me what had happened when she had calmed down and I told her what gives you the right to attack me like that when in your part of the Country you know the violence that is taking place who is worse you or me. That of course left her "gobsmacked" to say the least. But being British I drew myself up to my full height and told this Spanish Woman that if you can consent to that Violence what sort of a Woman are you then? I left her with no words (grin).

I truly don't know what basis we could compare how the SWAT handled the situation at the Luneta. As far as I viewed it, the SWAT came in when the negotiations failed. The ones on the grounds did their best to gain entry to the doomed bus. The SWAT risked their lives hammering the windows and the door. They created distraction and were able to throw tear gas. Take note, they didn't know yet if Mendoza was already down. But the sniper stood his stance. He didn't budge. When he saw Mendoza made the littlest move, he took his shot. I think he must be commended for that, not investigated.

Personally, the police were doing ok during the negotiations until Menoza was able to see on live TV the arrest of his brother. This agitated him. Though I think the police need more training on dealing with situations such as this, all of us have responsibilities. Media should not have aired the arrest as they fully know that Mendoza had access to live TV inside the bus. The usual "usiseros" were there. Sadly, the police were not able to control them.

True. The sniper did his job and did it well. I commend him for that. He was part of a team which unfortunately did not work well together. I am sure they have the best of intentions...end the situation peacefully and prevent bloodshed but being members of an elite police team, we expect more from them. We would not expect it from any other ordinary policeman. They are supposed to be well trained on this kind of situation but they failed. If that performance is already considered their best, then it reinforces my belief that they indeed need more training. Risking their lives is just part of the game. When they joined the force, they know that they will be exposed to such risk. Sorry but the risk is part of their payroll. That's their job.

Worst, it happened in the City Capital where i believe Noynoy took oath as the President. well, that's how aggressive foreign media is, and we have got a taste of their senseless remarks. the whole world saw whole our cops screw up on everthing. but i must admit, CNN's way of looking into things in the Philippines had always been negative....as far as i am concern. except to the time that they went to Noynoys house in Luisita.

That much we can deduce from this fiasco, we learn to put things in the proper perspective.

Life is just full of unexpected things, you can't expect everyone to always be prepared. When things don't go my way, I try my best to learn something from it. If I can't learn anything from it, I simply say "That's Life" and try to move on...

That is correct, the sniper could only act when the green and go order had been given.

If I were the sniper and had a clean shot early the afternoon, I wouldn't have taken the shot. Taking a life isn't that easy, and I know that I wouldn't be commended if I did take the shot--I would have been condemned(because we didn't know that it would end this way). But if we can go back in time, and decide to shoot the suspect, lives would have been saved. Lots of "what if"s in life, what if Hitler wasn't born? what if I made a better response to this topic?

None of us ever wanted that incident Nick. We are really hoping we could increase our the national revenue through tourism. But this is another drawback for us. Now we have to start from the beginning. Some of our people in Hong Kong are being retrenched from their jobs as of this writing. Sigh!

@eileen: I guess it is quite unfair for Hong Kong and China to do this. As if they have not had some skeletons in their closets. One incident and they draw back and over sensationalized the whole thing. What about us? Haven't we been treated badly in their shores? In other countries as well? How about the bombing in UK a few years back why did they not shut the UK down for tourists? Sadly because of this incident we all have to take the blow. Thank you Mendoza wherever you are...thanks for being so darn selfish and dragging us all down with you!

This sort of thing happens in the US all the time. There is always some one shooting up their school or work place. You don't see government travel warnings issued because of this.

I tuned in to the television live account at around 7:30 pm. But what I gathered from a brief radio report was that a letter from the Ombudsman was given to Mendoza and he didn't like it. There was a long stand still till the brother was arrested and that sparked the gunfire. I think the brother was out of line but in such cases, that is understandable, considering psychologically how family could temper enraged creatures. The Manila Vice-Mayor somehow does not blend well in the script and may be liable for the turn of events. The Ombudsman could have a better judgment than writing a letter to someone already disgruntled. The media could have exercised caution. This is the first time I have seen live coverage of a hostage scenario. I knew right away that it would only end in sorrow. It did. And I had not been entertained, as television viewing is supposed to be. In fairness though, I tuned in to Channel 7 and the reporters were very careful, doubly verifying whatever they would air.

As always, negotiations must be exhausted first before force.

Would you believe there was a reporter beside the sniper. The sniper sighed after he took the shot and the reporter asked him what happened. He answered "It's done! I saw him move and I shot him. My fellow sniper made sure the arm was hit, too" Then the footages on television was showing the police on the ground getting inside the bus through the windows. The reporter was momentarily silenced by the quick change of scenario.

Know what? I am so much relieved Jackie Chan is very understanding. I saw the begging of forgiveness of Mendoza's sister and the grief of his father on the news. This is really a very sad moment.

I was pissed too by the media coverage of the brother communicating with the hostage taker and later resisting arrest. But I truly don't think any of the policemen out there must be laughed at. They had a grievous situation. They may not have handled it according to how we want it done but our knowledge is what we gather from movies. I think it is easier said than done. I think the police were very apprehensive, too, about the matter at hand.