Category: hostage

German Police Arrest Suspect After Highway Bus Incident

BERLIN—A Serbian man was arrested in southern Germany on Tuesday after an altercation on board a Serbia-bound bus and an ensuing standoff led to the closure of a section of highway in Bavaria, police said. The incident started with a fight involving several passengers that left two people slightly injured, police said. They added in…


Quebecer Edith Blais Talks Writing and Moving on After 450 Days as Hostage in Africa

MONTREAL—Almost 250 days into her 15-month captivity in Mali, Edith Blais realized her life was no longer her own, and she didn’t know if she’d ever get it back. Separated from her travelling companion, Luca Tacchetto, and the group of women with whom she’d earlier been held hostage, the Quebec woman found herself in a…


Coroner IDs Southern California Shooting Suspect

LOS ANGELES—Authorities have identified the shooter involved in a California standoff that killed a sheriff’s deputy and three others who were held hostage in a San Joaquin Valley home. The shooter, identified Tuesday as Jose Manuel Ramirez Jr., was fatally shot by Kern County sheriff’s deputies. He had a history of arrests on domestic violence…


Coroner Identifies Shooter in California Standoff That Killed Sheriff’s Deputy, 3 Others

LOS ANGELES—Authorities have identified the shooter involved in a California standoff that killed a sheriff’s deputy and three others who were held hostage in a San Joaquin Valley home. The shooter, identified Tuesday as Jose Manuel Ramirez Jr., was fatally shot by Kern County sheriff’s deputies. He had a history of arrests on domestic violence…


2 Guards Taken Hostage by Inmates at Prison in Sweden

OSLO, Norway—Two inmates took a pair of prison guards hostage Wednesday at a Swedish penitentiary and are barricaded inside in what the country’s prison department called “a very dangerous situation.” The inmates abducted the prison officers after breaking into a guards’ room soon after midday and covering up the surveillance cameras, the Swedish Prison and…


Filipino Troops Kill Rebel Commander, Rescue Last Hostage

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine troops killed a commander of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group blamed for years of ransom kidnappings and on Sunday rescued the last of his four Indonesian captives, the military said. Marines wounded Amajan Sahidjuan in a gunbattle Saturday night and he later died from loss of blood on Kalupag Island in the southernmost province…


2 Dead in Reported Hostage Situation at Texas Medical Office

AUSTIN, Texas —A reported hostage situation at a Texas doctor’s office has ended with two people dead, authorities said. A SWAT team found the bodies late Tuesday after negotiators spent hours trying to speak to the people inside the building in Austin, police said. Some residents nearby were evacuated as police responded and others were…