A negotiator delivers food to the bus where more than 20 passengers are being held hostage. The gunman, former policeman Rolando Mendoza, opens the door to speak to the negotiators and one of them actually enters. The situation seems to be improving. A hostage is released, walking back to freedom.
And those on board can be seen occasionally peeking through the curtain, hoping the crisis can be resolved. The gunman had posted his list of demands onto the windscreen of the bus. He wanted his old job back.
Mendoza had been accused of drug-related crime and extortion. About an hour later, the gunman's brother, Gregory Mendoza, arrives. But police take him and his gun away. He later spoke with Al Jazeera. He is not in the state of his mind.
He's the same Captain Mendoza before. He's not in his mind. As the daylight starts to fade and it rains... Progress seems to have stalled until just after 7pm in Manila the bus starts to move.
Police fire at it. The bus driver manages to escape. At this stage he says all the passengers have been killed.
So the police move in and surround the bus, smashing windows. All the hostages inside the tourist bus are all dead. Which is why immediately the command group... An hour later, the police are ready to make their move.
At one point, the gunman appears to fire at them. They briefly retreat. The first dead body appears. And then, after an ordeal which had dragged on all day and into the night, police are finally able to get inside and help passengers. At least seven people were killed.
It's believed the gunman was among them. For the people who've survived, it's been a long and horrifying day. And for the police too. It is the day one of their own turned on them and the public.
Perhaps in frustration or anger, he lashed out against those he once served to protect. Nicole Johnston, Al Jazeera.