A security guard who tried to stop four motorcycle-riding robbers from fleeing with their loot from a courier service firm in Cubao, Quezon City, was shot and killed on Sunday morning. Rhom dela Cruz, 34, was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Quirino Memorial Medical Center due to five gunshot wounds all over his body. Dela Cruz, a guard from the Jersan Security Agency, was at his post in a nearby hotel when he spotted the robbers leaving the LBC Express branch at the corner of Arayat and Malabito Streets in Cubao, Quezon City, at 9 a.m. PO3 Alvin Quisumbing of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said that just minutes before, two armed men barged into the branch of the courier service company and announced a heist. With two other cohorts acting as lookouts, the robbers ordered the establishment’s employees to give them all the money in the vault, Quisumbing said. However, when told that none of the workers had the key to the vault, the robbers asked for all the money in the cash drawer which totaled around P11,000, the policeman added. Quisumbing said that as the four thieves stepped out of the establishment and got on two motorcycles, they spotted Dela Cruz in his security guard uniform running toward their direction. They repeatedly fired at him and then escaped on their motorcycles, the policeman said. The wounded security guard was rushed by employees from neighboring establishments to the nearest hospital but their efforts to save him failed. Jeannette I. Andrade
Dead woman yields ‘shabu’
An elderly woman was stabbed dead on Sunday morning in Quezon City with sachets of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” found in her grip. The man who killed Winnifreda Tanopo, 62, a resident of Baetiong Compound, Old Samson Road, in Barangay (village) Apolonio Samson, fled on a tricycle. The police said he stabbed her six times. SPO1 Pascual Fabreag of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit said the incident happened at 2:30 a.m. near the Riverview Market on Samson Road in Barangay Apolonio Samson. Fabreag said that the body was found by charcoal vendor Devina Flores who immediately informed the police. According to the case investigator, Flores was repacking charcoal when a tricycle previously parked near her store suddenly sped away, catching her attention. When she looked around, she saw the victim lying on the ground. Scene of the Crime Operatives (Soco) recovered two sachets, each containing white powder believed to be shabu, in the victim’s right hand. The Soco also observed that the body bore multiple stab wounds: two in the chest and four in the back. Fabreag said they were looking into other possible motives behind the killing although it was apparently related to illegal drugs because of the sachets of powder recovered from the victim. Jeannette I. Andrade