Hostage: Shooting suspect wanted apology from cops

The hostages realized the suspect was young and scared.
SEATTLE TIMES
TACOMA, Wash. -- After he shot up Tacoma Mall and took four hostages, Dominick Sergio Maldonado had one demand: He wanted to confront three police officers he said had embarrassed him as a child.
Joe Hudson, one of four people held hostage in a mall music store Sunday, said Maldonado said he had been treated "like a prisoner" at a childhood summer camp by the officers. They made fun of him and humiliated him, Hudson said.
Maldonado's initial demand to police negotiators, Hudson said, was that the three officers come to the gate of the barricaded mall store and apologize.
Maldonado softened his demands during the four-hour ordeal, Hudson said. In the end, after four hours, two of the hostages walked the weeping gunman out of the store, where he was arrested by police. He kept repeating, "I don't know what to do."
Hostage Jon Black said that at first, when he was face down on the floor of the Sam Goody store Sunday afternoon, he thought Maldonado would kill him.
As bullets flew over Black's head, Maldonado described what the weapons would do to him. Black said he was terrified.But over the next four hours, Black and two other hostages, listening to Maldonado, realized he was young and scared.
"When I'd look into his eyes, he was just a kid," Black said.
What happened
Black was shopping for CDs at the music store with his wife Sunday at around noon when police say Maldonado, 20, opened fire inside Tacoma Mall. He shot six people before running into the Sam Goody store and taking Black, a 9-year-old boy and two store managers, including Hudson, hostage. Black's wife, Desiree, and other customers escaped.
Black and Hudson discovered the 9-year-old boy while they were following Maldonado's demands to barricade the store entrance with displays. The boy was hiding beneath a display, so Hudson said he hid the boy with boxes. The boy stayed hidden for about an hour before being discovered by Maldonado. Maldonado released the boy to police about 45 minutes later, Hudson said.