Motorcycle thief killed in gunfight

An alleged motorcycle robber believed to be behind a series of thefts near the Manila City Hall before Christmas was killed in a shootout with policemen who set up a trap for him at dawn Saturday, a police report said.

Senior Insp. Rolando Lorenzo Jr., city hall detachment head, identified the man as Manuel Mallari based on the identification cards found in his possession.

Lorenzo said that since Dec. 20, several motorcycles have been reported stolen in the vicinity of city hall.

He added that this prompted the police to set up a trap using as bait the motorcycle of a colleague, PO1 Christopher Razon, which they left parked on Government Center Road for several days.

Lorenzo said that initially, they wanted to catch the thief alive but they were forced to fire back when he took out a firearm and opened fire on their police vehicle, hitting the fender.

According to him, when they saw Mallari, he was about to drive off on Razon’s motorcycle.

He said among the motorcycles that had been earlier reported stolen were owned by policemen and civilians.

Lorenzo added that Mallari was earlier spotted looking at the bait although he left the area. However, he came back at 3 a.m. to steal the motorcycle, prompting the policemen to move in to accost him.