1 killed, 1 arrested in Bulacan bank rob

HAGONOY, Bulacan — Police gunned down one of four men who robbed a bank’s extension office in a remote barangay here yesterday. A second suspect was arrested.

Superintendent Frederick Minong, this town’s police chief, said the slain suspect, Renato Reyes, 29, a resident of Makati City, fired at responding policemen while he and three cohorts tried to escape aboard a white Toyota Corolla after robbing the East Coast Bank branch in Barangay San Pascual.

Barangay tanods arrested suspect Rolando Feria, 31, of Las Piñas City. His two other cohorts managed to flee while Reyes was shooting it out with the police.

Senior Superintendent Felizardo Serapio Jr., provincial police director, said the four suspects, all brandishing handguns, barged into the bank at noon, disarmed security guard Tranquilino Mendoza and announced the heist.

The robbers then tied up Mendoza and bank employee Tomas Francisco inside a room and took all the cash in the vault amounting to P600,000.

They also took P6,500 in cash from the wallets of Mendoza and Francisco, and their cellular phones, before leaving.

Police were still hunting down the two other suspects.