Car thieves kill restaurant manager in Mandaluyong

A manager of a restaurant was gunned down yesterday after resisting carjackers in Mandaluyong City.

Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, chief of the Mandaluyong City police, immediately dispatched two crack police teams to track down the killers of Romeo Cruz, 38.

Cruz, manager of Dad’s restaurant at the Glorietta Mall in Makati City and a resident of Barangay Barangka Itaas, Mandaluyong, sustained five gunshot wounds in different parts of the body and died while being treated at the Victor Potenciano Medical Center.

The victim’s wife said she was inside their house when she heard Cruz arriving and parking their red Toyota Corolla at about 4:30 a.m.

After she heard the car’s door being closed, five successive shots rang out, prompting her to run to check.

Investigator PO1 Rizaldy Salvador said the wife saw Cruz bloodied on the pavement of Pantaleon street, a few meters away from their house.

Salvador said Cruz might have tried to run away from the suspects.

A neighbor said he was standing in front of his house when he saw the victim running toward his direction, shouting for help.

"Tulungan ninyo ako. Kina-carnap ang kotse ko. Tulungan ninyo ako, hinoholdap ako," the victim was heard shouting. 

The victim was rushed by his wife and neighbors to the hospital, where he was declared dead by attending physicians at 5:30 a.m..

Velasquez said they recovered two deformed slugs and three spent shells at the crime scene.

"No other personal belongings of the victim was reported missing, except for the keys of the car, which remained parked in front of the victim’s residence," he said.