Rob gang hits armored van

A bank security escort was killed when at least 10 heavily armed men hit an armored van of a Banco de Oro branch outside a shopping mall in North EDSA, Quezon City yesterday afternoon.

Senior Superintendent Procopio Lipana, head of the Central Police District-Criminal Investigation Unit, identified the fatality as security guard as Ladio Jacobe, of the Twinstar Security Agency.

Jacobe died while being treated at the Quezon City General Hospital. He sustained four bullet wounds.

Initial reports gathered by police disclosed that the incident took place at around 4 p.m. in front of Entrance 3 of the mall’s annex building near EDSA.

Lipana told The Star that about six to eight men acted as bystanders near the steps leading to the entrance of the building.

According to Lipana, the suspects struck quickly after Jacobe, bank teller Joseph Almoite, and another bank escort alighted from the blue armored van, with license plate UUF-355. The vehicle was parked in front of the bank.

Almoite was carrying two bags containing cash, which were set to be deposited at the bank. The amount in the bags is still undetermined.

The suspects approached the security escorts and at gunpoint, grabbed one of the bags from Almoite.

Lipana said Jacobe tried to fight back, prompting the suspects to shoot him several times at close range. The suspects then escaped on board a silver Mitsubishi L-300 van, with license plate PRS-653, parked at the corner nearby.

Reports said two other suspects were aboard the waiting van, which was later found abandoned by police along Batangas street, in Bago Bantay.

Eight empty shells and slug from a caliber .45 caliber handgun and an M-16 were recovered by the police at the scene of the crime.

Chief Inspector Rudy Jaraza, head of the District’s Intelligence Unit that found the get-away vehicle, told The Star that one of the suspects might have been wounded by the security escorts since there were bloodstains inside the L-300.

Quoting witnesses, Jaraza said the suspects transferred to a maroon Nissan Urvan, a midnight blue MB 100 van, and silver Honda Civic. Residents in the area could not remember the license plate numbers.

Witnesses further told police that one bloodied suspect was being herded to one of the vehicles.

Jaraza said that another get-away vehicle, a red Mitsubishi Gallant Sigma with license plate NRT-228 was likewise recovered along Batangas street.

"We also recovered 10 magazines for an M-16 inside the L-300 van," Jaraza said.