PH to tighten security at malls after Batman shooting

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has ordered tighter security at all shopping malls after what it called the “senseless killings” of 12 people at a screening of Batman in the United States.

A 17-year-old Filipino-American was among the 58 people wounded Friday when a gunman went on the rampage at the cinema in Aurora, Colorado, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told Philippine government radio.

“We are asking mall operators to have security guards thoroughly search bags… in order that we can avoid a similar incident,” he said on Sunday, July 21.

“We hope and pray that he will recover from the gunshot wounds,” he said of the teenager, whom press in the Philippines — a former US colony — named as Ryan Lumba.

He was in hospital after being shot in the stomach, said Lacierda.

There are about 1.1 million unlicensed firearms across the Philippines, the police estimate. Some are in the hands of insurgent and crime groups in the troubled south.

Politicians are also known to control “private armies” that contribute to the culture of impunity in the country, rights groups say. – Agence France-Presse