Police stormed a kindergarten and subdued a man wielding a machete and a hammer who was holding 30 children and three teachers hostage, Malaysian authorities said Thursday.
District police officer Suhaimi Ahmad said that all hostages were safe after the nearly seven-hour stand-off ended.
The newspaper reported that a smoke bomb was thrown into the building before special forces entered.
The hostage-taker was shot and then taken away, according to the paper.
The man barged into the kindergarten in southern Johor state at around 9 a.m. local time Thursday (10 p.m. ET Wednesday), Ahmad said earlier. Police cordoned off the area and negotiated with the suspect.
newspaper reported the man told negotiators to give him a gun or he would kill the children.
A psychiatrist spoke to the man from outside the building during the stand-off, The Star reported earlier. "He is hungry now and wants some food," Dr. Lau Keen Lee said.