iHostage Ending Explained: Is Ammar Ajar Dead?

Netflix’s true crime movie, ‘iHostage,’ tells the story of an Apple store robbery in Amsterdam. It begins with a Bulgarian man named Ilian Petrov arriving in town for work. He checks into his hotel and, over a call with his wife, reveals that he has lost his AirPods. She suggests that he should get a new one, considering that he is going to be away from home for a while. So, his first stop is the Apple store, which is full of several other customers. This is where we are introduced to Mingus, an employee, who is helping a customer named Lukas. Everyone is consumed by their own thing when a man walks in and pulls out a gun.

The man, whose name is later revealed to be Ammar Ajar, holds the store at gunpoint. His sudden appearance causes chaos, and while a handful manage to run out of the front door, most of them are trapped inside. As Ammar tries to take control of the place, he fires two shots, which are heard by the cops in the vicinity. They immediately rush to the store and try to get a look at the shooter, but when Ajar sees them, he shoots at them, forcing them to hide for cover and call for backup. The distraction of the cops allows most of the people to run to the first floor of the building, and four (Mingus, Lukas, Bente, and her mother, Soof) to hide in a closet unnoticed by Ammar. With almost the entire store empty, only one person remains in the robber’s view, Ilian, whom he immediately holds hostage and uses as a shield against the cops.

As a negotiator is brought in to talk to him, Ammar places the demand of two hundred million euros in cryptocurrency. The negotiator, Lynn, tries to win Ammar’s trust to find out more about his background and motivations to figure out what makes him tick and how he can be convinced to defuse the situation. While a tactical team is ready to act, they are held back because the robber has a bomb vest, which he has threatened to explode if any cop gets near him. While it is suspected that it might be fake, the explosion of the entire building is not something the authorities want to leave to chance. SPOILERS AHEAD.

What Happens to Ammar Ajar? Are all the Hostages Rescued?

Ammar Ajar holds the store and its people hostage for about five hours before the whole thing comes to an end. Trapped on the first floor, the hostages immediately reach out to the cops for help. They give them the entire gist of the situation, which helps the cops come up with a more efficient plan to help them. Still, because of the bomb threat, they cannot move in so quickly. At the same time, Mingus uses Bente’s phone to call for help. He is updated on the matter of the other hostages and is asked to remain calm and quiet, so as not to attract Ammar’s attention. Mingus helps the cops figure out the store’s floor plan to find an alternate path through which they can enter the first floor and get all the hostages out as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Ilian is the only one who is under the threat of being harmed by the robber, and his desperation grows with every minute.

As the night falls and the hope of the cops swooping in to save him reduces, Ilian looks to create an opportunity for himself. He tells Ammar to request water, which both of them need, because they have spent too much time in the store without eating or drinking anything. Meanwhile, Ilian also has a heart condition, and the stress of the situation is getting to him. So, Ammar asks for water, which is delivered to the store’s doorstep by a robot. Ammar forces Ilian to pick up the water while on his knees. When he is unable to do that, Ammar puts down his gun to pick up the bottle himself. This is when the hostage takes his chance and makes a run for it.

Realising his mistake, Ammar runs after him, but Ilian is pretty fast, and before Ammar can catch up to him, the cops see their chance. They know that if Ilian is caught again, the whole thing will start all over again. So, they take a chance and hit him with the car. However, the act is so sudden that Ammar is hit pretty badly. Instead of immediately going to him, the cops send a robot to get his vest off, lest it explode and claim innocent lives. They are shocked and also relieved to discover that the vest was unarmed the whole time. Now that the danger is over, they take Ammar to the hospital. However, the impact of the hit is so hard that his injuries turn fatal and he dies at the hospital he next morning. Meanwhile, Ilian is saved and found to be physically unharmed, though still rattled. With Ammar gone, Mingus and the other hostages are also brought out of the closet they spent the past few hours in and are able to go back home.

Is Winston Prosecuted for Running Over Ammar?

When the news of the robbery breaks out, police officer Winston is immediately called into action. He had been with his family at the time, but as duty calls, he is forced to leave them, which is rather common for him and a source of dismay for his wife, who wants him to be able to spend more time with her and the kids. Outside the store, Winston meets other cops who are also there to get their green signal to burst into the building when they get the chance. As Lynn keeps Ammar talking, they use Mingus’ floor plan to enter the first floor of the building from the adjacent building and get most of the hostages out. However, as the hours pass and there is no change in Ammar’s intention to leave Ilian, the cops start to wonder if this standstill will ever come to an end. And then, Ammar asks for water, and Ilian makes a run for it.

When Winston watches Ammar run after Ilian out in the open, he immediately acts by driving his car towards Ammar and hitting him so badly that he is rendered unconscious on the spot. While he did this with Ilian’s safety and the conclusion of the hostile situation in mind, his position as an officer of the law does not grant him the permission to kill anyone, even if it is a criminal. While commanding him for his quick thinking, his superior also tells him that he will be the subject of an inquiry, following which it will be decided what happens to Winston for hitting the perpetrator with his car. In the meantime, he is taken off duty and sent back home after a debriefing in the morning. In some ways, this break is a relief for Winston and his family. In the title cards at the end of the film, we are told that the real police officer on whom Winston is based was found to have acted within the confines of his responsibility as an officer of the law. No charges are pressed against him. He is not prosecuted and is allowed to return to his service.

Why does Ilian Petro Cry in the End?

When the day started, Ilian Petrov didn’t have much on his mind. He was supposed to be on a few days’ trip, which was usual for him. He lost his AirPods, which was not that big of an issue. But this simple trip to the Apple store turned into one of the, if not the, worst experiences of his life in a matter of a few minutes. While a lot of people were trapped inside the building, Ilian was the only one who was actually at gunpoint at all times. His hands were bound, and the robber used him as a shield in case the cops tried to fire. Considering all this, there was a good chance that Ilian wouldn’t make it out of the hostage situation alive. If Ammar’s demands were met, he would still take Ilian with him to make sure that the cops didn’t catch him once he left the store. In that case as well, the hostage was sure that the robber would eventually kill him.

If Ammar’s demands were not met, he would kill Ilian out of anger. Moreover, he also had a bomb vest, and he was ready to blow it up. All in all, Ilian’s chances of survival were pretty slim. This is why, when he gets the chance, he runs for his life. Even if Ilian shoots him, it wouldn’t be any different from all the scenarios he had already made up in his mind about how things would end. Luckily, no shots are fired, and Ammar is killed before he can catch up with Ilian.

The next morning, when he goes back to his hotel room with the new AirPods, he reflects on how close he came to dying. During all the hours that he spent in the store, he constantly thought about his wife and how the most stressful thing for him was the new house she wanted them to buy. In comparison to the events at the store, the house thing feels like nothing now. So, the tears in the end are a reflection of the mental and physical pain he suffered for hours, the trauma the event has imprinted on him for life, as well as the happiness of being alive even when all the odds seemed stacked against him.