2 bystanders hurt in police shootout with 4 robbers

LAGUNA, Philippines – Two bystanders, including a minor, were hit by stray bullets as four suspected robbers shot it out with lawmen after a heist in Cabuyao town last Friday night, police said.

Superintendent Leonardo Luna, Cabuyao police chief, said bystanders Mark Joseph Estrada, 24, and a certain Gerry, a minor, were rushed to the nearest hospital but were later declared out of danger.

Luna identified the arrested suspects as Charlie Mamalayan, 28; Richard Camalate; Zoren Almazan, 22; and Marvin Fajardo, 43. Charges of robbery and frustrated homicide are being readied against them.

Prior to the shootout, Luna said Mamalayan and Calamate posed as customers while the two others acted as lookouts at a store owned by a certain Maribel Alcira in Barangay Marinig, Cabuyao.

Brandishing guns, the suspects announced the heist and took Alcira’s earnings amounting to P10,000 and fled on board a gray Hyundai Tucson (with license plate UNI-532).

Alcira immediately sought the help of the police which, in turn, set up a dragnet.

Instead of surrendering, Luna said the suspects fired at policemen, triggering a running gun battle that left the two bystanders wounded.

The suspects were eventually cornered upon reaching Barangay 2 and were forced to give themselves up.