At 8am this morning, a young man in home-made armor entered a pre-school in Ho Chi Minh City and took two 3-year-old boys and one female teacher hostage at knife point. Police laid siege to the school and managed to subdue him after two and a half hours.

The arrested man is identified as Cao Quoc Huy, born in 1984. But he refused to tell the police his motive.

Police found two Thai knives and a pink cell phone thought to belong to Huy.

At 8am, Huy suddenly used a knife to take two boys and one female teacher hostage while everyone was out of the classroom during a break. Panic-stricken, teachers drove all of the kids into different classrooms and locked themselves in.

The kidnapper took the three hostages to an empty room.

The incident occurred at 10A Pre-School on Go Cam Dem Street in ward 10 of Tan Binh district. It has around 300 students between the ages of 3 and 5.

After being informed, nearly 100 policemen were mobilized to the scene and surrounded the school. Worried parents also flocked to the school, with some trying to enter the facility to see if their children were safe but were prevented from doing so by the police.

At 9:30, police entered deeper into the school and at 10:15, they succeeded in locating the room where the victims were being held. They were then rescued. One boy was in a state of shock, with injuries to his neck and nose, and his left leg was covered in blood. 

At 10:30, the culprit was escorted to the police station. He covered his face with his shirt while walking out.

Police are still cordoning off the school.