3 robbers kill acolyte for his cellular phone

CEBU, Philippines - Three motorcycle-riding men shot a 14-year-old acolyte dead in a robbery incident in Horseshoe Hills, barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City at around 8 a.m. yesterday.

The victim was identified as Carlo Mangitngit, a resident of sitio Sodina, barangay Guadalupe. He was an acolyte of the nearby Parish of the Alliance of Two Hearts and a second year high school student of the Abellana National School.

He was reportedly on an errand to buy vegetables and was accompanied by an eight-year-old boy when he was robbed.

The police theorized that the boy might have tried to run away when the robbers pointed a gun at him, which prompted the shooting.

The robbers were reportedly on board a black Honda XRM motorcycle. They took the victim’s Nokia 3310 cellular phone worth about P500.

The three men were reportedly all wearing helmets and black jackets and their faces were also covered using T-shirts.

The robbers fled towards an unknown direction after the heist while the victim was rushed to the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

The boy died at past 4 p.m.

According to Rammy Cabonelas, a neighbor of the victim, he saw the suspects pass by the place three times before the incident happened.

Sr. Insp. Michael Anthony Bastes, chief of the Theft and Robbery Section of the Cebu City Police Office, said that the companion of the victim is the lone witness.

 Bastes told The FREEMAN that they picked up a man yesterday, but the witness said that the man wasn’t among the robbers.

The police official admitted that it is difficult to solve the crime because there were no other witnesses. — Niña G. Sumacot/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)