American shot dead; another ends up in jail

An American was killed in a robbery while another one ended up behind bars for destroying an automated teller machine (ATM).

Robert Armstrong, 45, an American and general manager of a specialized English training center on Roxas Boulevard, was buying a bottle of mineral water in the 7-Eleven branch at the corner of FB Harrison and P. Ocampo Streets in Malate, Manila, when four men came in and declared a holdup.

At gunpoint, the robbers ordered everyone to go into a room at the back of the store. Armstrong, however, resisted and ran to his car which was parked in front of the establishment as one of the men shot him in the buttocks.

As Armstrong got into his car, the robber shot him again.

The armed men then fled on two motorcycles after taking P30,000 from the store’s cash register, according to Police Officer 3 Alonzo Layugan.

Armstrong, a resident of Parañaque City, was declared dead on arrival at San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay City.

Meanwhile, a cultural researcher from Illinois has been detained at the Manila Police District since Friday night for destroying a bank’s ATM.

“I was supposed to go to Boracay on Sunday then to Corregidor. Instead, I’m having my vacation here,” John Oliver Clower, 38, an American tourist temporarily staying at Bel-Air Apartment on Roxas Boulevard in Manila, told the Inquirer.

Clower said he went to the Union Bank UN Avenue Branch in Ermita on Friday to withdraw P4,000 from the ATM. But when no money came out of the machine, he got angry.

A witness said Clower punched and kicked the machine repeatedly. He also destroyed the keypad before leaving. Two barangay watchmen, however, chased him and turned him over to the police.