Single mom robbed of P100,000, repeatedly shot and killed

MANILA, Philippines—A 37-year-old single mother was gunned down Friday afternoon by one of three men on a motorcycle who took P100,000 she had just withdrawn from a bank in Manila. She was first shot in the hands so she would release her bag and was finished off with two more shots to the chest as she lay on the ground, police said.

The Manila Police District homicide section released Saturday a computer-generated facial composite of the shooter, based on descriptions given by witnesses to the killing of Shiela Mendoza of Interior 41, Barrio Sta. Maria, Paco, Manila.

“He (robber) shot her hands so she would let go of her bag because she was fighting him off,” PO3 Jupiter Tajonera told the Inquirer. “While she was lying on the pavement and the suspect already had her bag, the robber shot her two more times before boarding a getaway motorcycle.”

Mendoza was declared dead on arrival at the Sta. Ana Hospital.

Case investigator Senior Police Officer 2 Benito Cabatbat said that the incident happened at around 1 p.m. Friday on Pedro Gil Street in Paco.

Cabatbat said that Mendoza, who had withdrawn P100,000 from a bank in Sta. Ana, had just alighted from a jeepney on Pedro Gil  and was walking to her house  when a man grabbed her shoulder bag from behind. Mendoza struggled with the man, who poked a .45-caliber pistol at her.

Cabatbat said that Mendoza still resisted, prompting the robber to shoot her hands.  The gunshot wound caused the victim to reel and fall on the pavement.

As soon as the man got the bag, he shot Mendoza twice more in the chest before running toward  his two companions, who were riding tandem on a red Kawazaki motorcycle across the street.

Witnesses only caught a glimpse of the numbers 8985 of the motorcycle’s license plate.

Tajonera told the Inquirer that Mendoza left behind a 13-year-old daughter and had withdrawn the money for house repairs.

“She (Mendoza) had no job and relied on a sibling abroad for her and her daughter’s subsistence,” he said,  adding that the robber did not have to kill her because he had already taken the money.

Based on descriptions given by the witnesses, the gunman is between 35 and 40 years old, at least five-foot-three inches tall,  dark-skinned, of heavy build, and was clad in a blue shirt denim pants.

Tajonera pointed out that the robbers may have been tipped off to the large amount of money the victim withdrew, prompting them to follow her from the bank.