Town cops arrest wanted man, gun him down in escape attempt

A man wanted for theft, robbery and murder cases was shot dead by policemen in Daanbantayan town Wednesday afternoon when he tried to resist and escape from arrest.

Jimmy Samson Mainit died on the spot with a gunshot wound in his head while the two arresting officers were placed under camp restriction pending investigation to determine if the operation was legitimate or not.

Mainit, reportedly a resident of Banawa in Cebu City, had arrest warrants for six robbery cases, three for theft cases, one each for murder and attempted murder.

Somebody tipped off the town police that Mainit was sighted at a cockfight in sitio Mohon, barangay Pajo, Daanbantayan, prompting SPO2 Vicente Inot and PO3 Bonifacio Asingua to respond and go to the place.

Inot and Asingua subsequently got Mainit and had him ride on their motorcycle to the town police station. Asingua drove the vehicle with Inot and the arrested suspect riding on the back.

But the two reported later that when they reached sitio Marinas Village of barangay Poblacion, Mainit suddenly grabbed the motorcycle's steering handle causing them and the vehicle to stagger and crash to the ground.

Asingua's left leg got stuck momentarily under the fallen motorcycle while Inot was thrown few meters away. Mainit took advantage of the situation and grabbed the gun from Asingua who in turn tried to hold on to the hands of the former.

As the two grappled for possession, the gun suddenly went off prompting Inot to fire once at Mainit who died on the spot. The two policemen surrendered to the station and yielded their firearms.

Police investigator, SPO1 Carlos Condino, said the two policemen and their respective .38-caliber service firearms are now in police custody while investigation will be conducted to see if the officers were in a legitimate operation.

Another investigator, SPO1 Cesar Carlos Alburo, said Mainit was in the place for the fiesta where he had relatives also.

In a related development, SPO2 Winefredo Costelo of the Guadalupe Police Station in Cebu City, confirmed to The FREEMAN yesterday of the arrest warrants against Mainit who had been reputed for involvement in robbery, murder, attempted murder and theft incidents.

Costelo said Guadalupe policemen had been monitoring Mainit's movement since last month after they received report that he was sighted in Dumanjug town. The report was negative and later they learned that he was already in Cebu City.

Mainit was lately reported as a hired killer already, said Costelo. - Norvie S. Misa