Cop in motorcycle theft shot dead in Pampanga mall parking lot

CLARK FREEPORT—A policeman suspected of stealing a motorcycle died in a shoot-out with personnel of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and security guards at a parking lot of a shopping mall here on Thursday, a report from the Central Luzon regional police showed.

PO1 Joman Batul, a member of the Provincial Public Safety Command in Oriental Mindoro, died from three bullet wounds in the head, Supt. Sydney Villaflor, Angeles City police chief, said in a report to Chief Supt. Rudy Lacadin, regional police director.

Batul, 28, died at the Ospital ning Angeles.

The report said Batul allegedly stole a motorcycle parked in front of a Jollibee branch across the SM City Clark at 3:40 p.m.

When CDC policemen saw Batul, he ran toward the mall’s parking lot where the shoot-out ensued.

Jake Machinal, a member of the CDC police, said Batul introduced himself as a policeman when he confronted him.

“I was about to arrest him but he fired at me. Then, the mall guards started exchanging gunfire with him,” Machinal said.

Batul, a resident of Caloocan City, was not in uniform during the incident, Villaflor said when reached by telephone.

Villaflor also denied reports that a stampede occurred inside the mall.