A patient at the East Avenue Medical Center was arrested by the police after he held hostage a doctor at the Quezon City hospital this morning.
A police report said patient Hilarion Achondo, 51, who works as a security guard, was brought to the hospital’s emergency room for treatment after he sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident early this morning.
Dr. Russel Anne Carandang was attending to the patient at around 5:52 am when Achondo grabbed a syringe and pointed it at the doctor’s neck, which prompted the hospital personnel to call the police.
Staff Sgt. Bienvenido Ribaya III, one of the five officers who responded to the call, said the suspect did not make any demands during the hostage incident, and after several minutes of attempting to pacify the Achondo, the 51-year-old put the syringe down and released the doctor.
Carandang was left unharmed by the incident and police are still investigating a possible motive for the said crime.
Investigators rejected the possibility that Achondo was not being attended to by healthcare professionals as a reason for his violent behavior. However, he said there were several patients at the hospital at the time when the hostage-taking took place.
Achondo was treated for his motorcycle injuries before he was detained by the police. He is facing possible charges of grave coercion, alarm and scandal, and grave threat over the hostage-taking incident.
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