Like a scene taken from action film, a lone man shot it out with five robbers who barged inside a 24-hour convenience store in Quezon City before midnight on Monday.
SPO2 Mario Turiano of the Quezon City Police District’s intelligence unit said that two of the five robbers were killed by Ernesto Boybanting, a member of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp). The rest, however, managed to escape while two bystanders were injured after they were hit by stray bullets fired by the robbers, he added.
The policeman said that Boybanting was inside the Mini-stop convenience store on Don Antonio Street, Barangay Holy Spirit, with his wife at around 11:30 p.m. when five armed men walked in and declared a heist.
One of the armed men emptied the cash register while his companions divested Boybanting, his wife and the other customers of their cash and valuables.
Boybanting, who was armed, avoided being frisked by the robbers because he quickly turned his wallet over.
As the armed men left the store, but not before taking several cell phone load cards and a bottle of wine, he sprang into action.
“As soon as the victims were out of harm’s way, the Isafp agent pulled out his gun and fired at the suspects immediately, killing two of them, while the three others fired back, hitting bystanders,” Turiano said.
Fortunately, some policemen on a stakeout nearby heard the shots and quickly responded.
Turiano identified the wounded bystanders as Jafit Caranyagan, 25, who was rushed to Capitol Medical Center, and Wilson Taladhay, 35, who was treated at East Avenue Medical Center.
Aside from tattoos in their body which indicated that they were members of the Batang City Jail Gang, the robbers did not have identification cards, making it hard for the police to determine their identities.
Police described one of the slain men as between 30 and 35 years old, of medium build, at least 5’5” tall, with fair complexion and short hair. The other was between 30 and 35 years old, at least 4’11”, of slim build and with brown complexion.
Seized from them were a cal. .38 caliber revolver and a Magnum .357 handgun.