Woman, 51, shot dead in Lapu-Lapu robbery

CEBU, Philippines - A 51-year-old woman, who was on her way to the church, was killed by two unidentified men after she refused to hand her shoulder bag to the suspects in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City yesterday morning.

 Police said Maria Luisa Galatin, a resident of Barangay Bankal, suffered from a single gunshot wound to the upper left eye.

Galatin allegedly boarded a tricycle bearing plate numbers QY 9894, driven by Dionisio Ragpa, 43, on Ramirez Drive, Barangay Bankal bound for Virgin de la Regla Parish in Barangay Poblacion. Several meters away, in Sitio Tigkahon of the same barangay, the suspects also boarded the same tricycle.

The tricycle driver said that when they were approaching the Lapu-Lapu City Hoops Dome in Barangay Gun-ob, the suspects declared a hold-up, pointing the .38 homemade revolver to the victim prompting him to stop his tricycle.

The suspects demanded for the shoulder bag of Galatin but she allegedly refused to give it. One of the perpetrators then shot the victim hitting her to the upper part of her left eye and then disembarked from the vehicle and fled.

Ragpa immediately brought the victim to Mactan Doctor’s Hospital in Barangay Basak on board his tricycle but she was pronounced dead by the attending physician.

Personnel of the Barangay Intelligence Network (BIN) of Barangay Basak noticed the suspects washing bloodstains from their face in a pond not far from their post. But when the BIN members approached them, the latter ran away leaving the shoulder bag behind.

BIN personnel turned over the shoulder bag to the police, who found a small plastic envelope with several documents, one cellular phone, three pieces Brazilian dollars, a wallet containing insurance cards and ATM cards inside it. The .38 paltik revolver with 4 live ammunitions and one empty shell believed to be used in the crime was also recovered.

LCPO- Homicide investigator Franklin Bulaquia said they have already identified the subjects but refused to divulge their names as they are still conducting further investigation and follow up operation for their possible arrest. —