Chinese Female Reporter Who Bought Time by Negotiating with Hostage Taker... Saved a Middle School Student

On the 22nd, a hostage-taker in Yunnan, China stabbed seven people with a knife and held one middle school student hostage. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nah Han-ah] On the 24th, a female reporter who bravely approached a hostage-taker at the scene of a hostage incident in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, became a hot topic on Weibo (微博, the Chinese version of Twitter).

On the 22nd, at the main gate of Yunnan Normal University Experimental Middle School in Kunming, the hostage-taker, Wang Mo (56), suddenly stabbed seven people with a bladed weapon and then dragged a middle school student hostage away from the scene.

When the police approached, the hostage-taker held a knife to the student's neck and staged a hostage situation. He requested to have a 10-minute interview not with a man but with a female reporter.

Accordingly, a rookie female reporter who recently received her press ID from Yunnan TV Radio was dispatched to the scene, where she talked and calmed the hostage-taker from a distance of 3 meters, buying time.

The female reporter approached the hostage-taker closely, even handing him a water bottle, persuading him not to stab the middle school student held hostage with the knife.

While the reporter was buying time, the police deployed a sniper who shot and killed the hostage-taker.

A witness said, "When the gunshot rang out, the boy held hostage and the female reporter in blue hurriedly took cover downstairs, and the police rushed in to capture the hostage-taker."

The Yunnan Journalists Association stated, "This female reporter continuously talked to calm the hostage-taker’s agitation, greatly helping the police find an opportunity to shoot the hostage-taker."

Chinese netizens who learned of this incident also showered praise on the female reporter for her brave response in a dangerous situation.

The related views on Weibo reached 150 million, and more than 20,000 comments full of praise were posted.

One netizen said, "At first, when I saw the video, I thought she was a police negotiation expert disguised as a reporter, but I was surprised to learn she was a real female reporter."

Meanwhile, Yunnan Normal University Experimental Middle School held memorial events such as lighting candles for the victims and decided to conduct group psychological counseling for students shocked by the incident.