Cebu City—Two security guards and three suspected robbers were killed while three others, including two policemen, were wounded when the suspects held up a bank teller in a shopping mall along Fuente Osmeña Blvd. here Monday morning, the police said.
Police identified the fatalities as security guards Leofer Itac and Lito Odac of the Puritan Security Agency who were assigned to China Banking Corp.
Two of the slain robbers were identified as Mario Dapitan and Antonio Adelan, both from Ozamis, Misamis Occidental, based on the identification cards recovered from them.
The injured were PO1 Jay Catacutan and PO1 Roy Ceniza, both assigned to the Cebu City police Mobile Patrol Group (MPG), and Lewen Surig, a Chinabank teller.
The police said witnesses saw at least four suspects at the Robinson’s Place mall when the robbery occurred at 9 a.m.
According to Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, chief of Cebu City Police Office, two of the suspects were reportedly waiting at the food court in the basement of Robinson’s Place while another stayed at the entrance of the mall’s supermarket, near where the China Bank armored van was parked.
Surig, accompanied by Odac, went down to the basement carrying a bag containing P1.2 million, intended for a money changer outlet near the supermarket. They left Itac outside the armored van with driver Nene Malatad.
Buenafe said that when Surig was approaching the money changer outlet, one of the two suspects shot her in the leg and grabbed the bag containing the money from her.
Odac resisted but he was shot by another suspect.
The two suspects went up the stairs to the side entrance facing Fuente Osmeña where Itac was waiting by the armored van. Upon hearing the shots, Itac attempted to go down to the basement but he, too, was shot by the two suspects and the third stationed outside the mall.
The suspects then saw three other policemen on board an MPG car–driven by PO1 Ernesto Silva–pass by and fired at them, hitting Catacutan on the body and Ceniza on the leg.
The policemen managed to retaliate and hit one of the suspects.
The suspects, including the one who was wounded, boarded two getaway motorcycles and proceeded towards the nearby Cebu Velez General Hospital along Ramos St.
Buenafe said Silva had called for reinforcement and six MPG teams responded. They cornered Adelan and the still unidentified suspect at Ranudo St., several meters from the mall, engaged them in a shootout, killing them on the spot.
Responding policemen also found Dapitan, who was assumed to be the one who was wounded in front of the mall, in Sepulveda St., a few blocks from Ranudo St.
The police brought Dapitan to the Cebu City Medical Center, where he was declared dead on arrival.
The two security guards, the teller and the two policemen were brought to the Chong Hua Hospital for treatment.
However, Itac was declared dead on arrival while Odan died past 12 noon. The bank teller and the policemen were reportedly in stable condition.
The police recovered the bag containing the money and a .45 cal. revolver with several magazines near the body of the unidentified slain suspect.
Police also recovered the two getaway motorcycles in Ranudo St. and in Alcohol St., also several blocks from Sepulveda St.
Buenafe said the suspects were believed to members of the Ozamis City-based robbery gang.
He added that they have received reports that members of the gang arrived in Cebu City last week and they have alerted banks and other business establishment of possible robbery attempts.
The police were still conducting a pursuit operation to find the other suspect or suspects.
Original posted: 3:16 pm | Monday, September 5th, 2011