Suspected robber killed by police in Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Manila policemen killed in a shootout early Thursday a man, who allegedly robbed at gun-point a widow waiting for a ride home.

Roving operatives of the Manila Police District (MPD) Sampaloc station 4 caught up with the suspected robber while he was casually walking away with his alleged victim’s belongings.

MPD homicide section investigators described the unidentified suspect to be between 30 and 35 years old, five feet and eight inches tall, of regular build, clad in a black shirt worn over maong pants and wearing  a gray ball cap.

Reports from the MPD homicide section revealed that the shootout happened at around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, at the corner of España Boulevard and M. Dela Fuente Street in Sampaloc.

PO3 Efren Flores, case investigator, said that Mylene Abril, 36, of Paco, was waiting for a ride at the street corner when a man approached her, brandished a handgun, and announced the hold-up.

The unidentified man then grabbed Abril’s bag and walked casually in the direction of the Trabajo market with the stolen handbag.

Flores pointed out that Abril spotted a patrol car of the Sampaloc police station anti-crime unit and sought the help of PO2 Benito Casuay and PO2 Reynaldo Olivo.

The MPD station 4 men immediately pursued the fleeing man.  But upon catching up with the alleged hold-up man, the suspect started firing at the pursuing policemen, which prompted them to retaliate.  The man was killed instantly after he sustained multiple bullet wounds in the body.

Recovered from the slain suspected robber were the stolen handbag which contained P2,000 cash, a mobile phone, and Abril’s other personal belongings, as well as a .38 caliber revolver.

The body was brought to the Universal funeral parlor for autopsy and safekeeping while the police personnel involved in the shootout were directed to submit their firearms to the MPD crime laboratory for ballistics examination.