Chinese security guards rescue boy held hostage by knifeman
Suspect had tried to rob the youngster in the street in Guizhou province
Two security guards in southwest China have been lauded as heroes after rescuing a young boy held hostage by a knifeman who tried to rob him.
The guards, Zhu Jiang and Wang Jiahui, subdued the knife-wielding man in Xishui county in Guizhou province last month.
Surveillance footage of the incident was released by the police earlier this week.
Zhu and Wang were heading home for the day after work when a boy told them there was a man brandishing a knife nearby, the news website Thepaper.cn reported.
Zhu got his wife to call the police and the two guards found the man holding a knife against the neck of a shirtless young boy.
The man, 19, yelled at them to leave, threatening to kill the boy.
Zhu, a security guard at a local hotel, asked the man if he was short of money and offered him 500 yuan (US$75) to release the child.
The man refused and was quoted as saying: “I will count to three. If you don’t leave, I will kill someone.”
Police called Zhu asking him to calm the knifeman as they made their way to the scene.
More onlookers appeared, making the knifeman more agitated, the report said.
Wang began talking to the man, offering him the keys to his motorcycle.
Zhu then rapidly approached the hostage-taker from behind, pulling him backwards and onto the ground, allowing the young boy to escape, the surveillance footage showed.
The guards grabbed the knifeman and he was later arrested by the police.
The knifeman had stolen 2,000 yuan from his home in Chishui, had spent all the money and tried to rob the two boys on the street, grabbing one of them, according to police.
Police praised the security guards for their courageous actions.
