Alleged thief shot dead

CEBU, Philippines - A 25-year old man was shot to death near his home in sitio Mananga, barangay Tabunok, Talisay City the other night.

PO2 Edwin Alvarado, Talisay City police station desk officer, identified the casualty as Aide Prajes, 25, single, and a resident of the place.

Initial investigation conducted by the city police revealed that Prajes was outside of his house talking to some neighbors when an unidentified man appeared and shot him at close range.

The assailant quickly ran away from the scene, and has remained at large as of press time. Prajes who was wounded in the left lower abdomen was rushed to the Talisay District Hospital in barangay San Isidro, but was later transferred to the government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City where he reportedly died around 10 p.m. that day.

Police believed the shooting could be linked to Prajes's alleged involvement in robberies in the past. Prajes' neighborhood is usually where robbers go after pulling robberies in barangay Tabunok or in jeepneys.

Last year, city police chief Supt. Henry Binas thought of putting up a substation under the Mananga Bridge to curb the increasing crime in the area, but the plan had been shelved for fear that this would expose the policemen assigned there to danger. — THE FREEMAN