4 hurt in Ortigas armored van heist

Four people were hurt when armed men sprayed them with bullets during an armored van robbery yesterday at the Ortigas Center in Pasig City.

The suspects pulled off the one-minute heist job and escaped with a bag containing an undetermined amount of cash intended for delivery to a remittance company based at the Discovery Suites building along San Miguel Avenue in Bgy. San Antonio.

The robbers struck while National Capital Regional Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol and top officials of the Eastern Police District were gathered at the EPD headquarters on Caruncho Avenue in Pasig to celebrate the command’s 32nd founding anniversary.

Those wounded were identified as security guards Rommel Villanoac, 32, and Samuel Onedo, 23; Discovery Suites driver Antonio Macario, 53, and bystander George George, 46.

Villanoac sustained a gunshot wound in the right leg and Macario in the arm. Onedo and George were hit by shotgun pellets, Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Raul Medina said.

At 10:10 a.m., Jose Mallari Jr., driver of the armored van with body number ATP 3246, parked the vehicle in front of the building after coming from the I-Bank main office in Makati City to deliver cash to I-Remit, a remittance company located on the 20th floor.

Medina said three security guards disembarked and carried the money toward the building. A bank teller and another security guard stayed behind.

Police said the three security guards were a few meters from the entrance of the building, which houses a bank on the ground floor, when a blue Mitsubishi Adventure with license plate XEZ 668 parked right behind the van.

Three of the six men inside stepped out and started firing at the HSBC office, sending the three security guards scampering for safety. They left behind the bag.

Police said the security guards failed to engage the robbers in a gunfight since no guns are not allowed inside the building. Four were hit in a hail of bullets, which also shattered the glass panels of the bank office .

The robbers took the bag and then sped off, making a U-turn on San Miguel Avenue before and proceeding towards Julia Vargas Avenue.

Querol, EPD director chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela and the four police chiefs of the EPD were having snacks after their anniversary celebration when they received the robbery dispatch.

Querol and Valenzuela rushed to the area to supervise hot-pursuit operations while the four police chiefs radioed for their men to conduct checkpoint operations to intercept the robbers.

A few minutes later, the getaway vehicle, which had a punctured front tire, was found in front of the Pier One Bar and Grill along Julia Vargas in Barangay Ugong.

Medina said that inside the vehicle, they recovered four bags, an improvised shotgun, an M-16 rifle, a caliber .45 automatic pistol, a Carbine, bottles of mineral water and energy drinks, a rubber glove and a cap.

Witnesses said four armed men disembarked from the van and joined their companions in a gray Toyota Revo, with no license plate.

They fled toward Antipolo City.

Pasig Mayor Vicente Eusebio ordered police to form a crack team to track down the suspects.

He assured locators in the city’s premiere commercial and business distrcit that the local government and police are exerting all effort to prevent the commission of similar crimes.