PMA cadet trying to stop jeepney holdup shot, wounded

[wpgmappity id=”636″]

MANILA, Philippines — A cadet of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) was shot and wounded at noon Saturday by a passenger jeepney robber, when the cadet tried to stop a holdup in Quezon City.

Alfonso Aviles, 23, a PMA cadet first class in his senior year, of Francisco Homes, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, remains confined at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Hospital from a bullet wound in the body.

The shooter, who stole Aviles’ academy bull ring before fleeing, remains the subject of a police hunt.

In his report, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Fairview station commander Virgilio Fabian said that the robbery and the attack happened at around 12 p.m. Saturday while Aviles was on a passenger jeepney (TVU-930) traversing the corner of Regalado and Mindanao Avenues in Barangay Greater Lagro.

Fabian revealed that the public utility jeepney, driven by Rockefeller Bala, was at the street corner when a man who posed as a passenger pulled out a .45 pistol and announced a heist.

The armed robber was starting to divest the belongings off one of three female passengers when Aviles tried to wrest his gun away from him. But the robber was able to retain possession of his pistol and shot the PMA cadet in the body.

The Fairview police station commander said that while Aviles was down, the robber grabbed the wounded cadet’s ring before jumping off the PUJ and fleeing. The passenger jeepney driver immediately brought the wounded cadet to the Fairview General Hospital, where he was given first aid treatment, before he was transferred to the AFP Hospital.