3 killed as robbers strike in Manila, Quezon City
A businessman and his daughter were killed by armed robbers who barged into their store in Manila while a Chinese woman trader lost around P1 million in cash to four men who broke into her house in Quezon City.
Both robberies took place on Saturday, based on reports submitted by Manila Police District (MPD) homicide investigators and the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU).
The MPD report identified the trader as Onofre Cruz, 53 and his daughter Sierra, 28, residents of Felix Huertas Street in Sta. Cruz, Manila who ran a wholesale and retail diaper business. Both died at Metropolitan Medical Center in Tondo due to multiple gunshot wounds.
According to MPD investigators, at 3:30 p.m. the other day, two armed men entered the victims’ house and declared a robbery as three of their cohorts remained outside, one serving as a lookout and the others as drivers of the getaway motorcycles.
One of the robbers went to the counter where Cruz was stationed and seized the store’s earnings estimated at around P200,000.
Based on the statements of other store workers, the two men were not content with their loot and kept on looking for other valuables. One of the robbers, they added, went up to the second floor of the victims’ house where Sierra was resting.
Her father, however, followed the robber who pointed a gun at Sierra. At this point, Cruz also took out a gun he was hiding and shot the robber.
Unfortunately for Cruz, he was shot by the second robber who came to his cohort’s aid. Witnesses said they heard successive gunshots being fired after which one of the robbers was seen running down the stairs carrying a bag which contained more cash. The robber then fled with his three other cohorts on motorcycles.
Responding police investigators found the Cruzes who were both wounded on the second floor. The two were immediately brought to a nearby hospital where they died after a few hours.
Also found on the second floor was the body of one of the
robbers who was identified as Arnold Lipon, 34, a resident of Cainta, Rizal.
Probers, meanwhile, said that a closed circuit television camera installed in the victims’ house was able to record the incident. The police said they would examine the footage to help them identify and track down the robbers.
In Quezon City, four armed men robbed a Chinese business woman of around P1 million in cash at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Ku Wai Qing, 61, owner of the sugar manufacturing company
Silver Star Trading, was with five house helpers at her house in Zabarte Extension, Novaliches, Quezon City, when the robbers barged inside and dragged her to her bedroom.
Qing asked them not to harm her as she gave them the money she had inside the house, said PO2 Julius Cesar Balbuena of the QCPD-CIDU. With a report from Rima Granali
