Robber killed, 3 more hurt in Cotabato pawnshop robbery

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - A robber was killed while three others were wounded when gunmen robbed on Monday a pawnshop at a busy commercial spot in this city.

Senior Superintendent Rolen Balquin, director of the city police, identified the slain suspect as Ronald Peteros, whose driver’s license indicated he was from Butuan City.

Peteros, who was first wounded in a firefight with security guards while his cohorts gathered the jewelries inside the Far East Pawnshop and took from workers the cash collections of the establishment at gunpoint, was finished off with fatal shots by his fleeing companions.

The owner of the pawnshop, Hadji Rasul Sapalon, his security escort named Arnold Chua, and their cashier, Arlene Ochoa, were wounded when the suspects shot them with assault rifles and handguns as they fled.

The suspects arrived at the scene on board a Toyota Revo and motorcycles. They casually entered the pawnshop and declared a holdup, causing a commotion that sparked a shootout with security guards.

The gunmen escaped using the same vehicles, bringing with them gold jewelries and still undetermined amount of cash they took from Ochoa.

Balquin said Sapalon, Chua and Ochoa are now undergoing medication at a hospital here.

“The suspects apparently finished their wounded companion off to prevent him from possibly getting captured alive by responding policemen,” Balquin told reporters.

The pawnshop is only about two blocks away from the city’s main police precinct, which is beside a company command post of the 1st Marine Battalion.

More than a dozen people have been killed here by suspected guns-for-hire in one attack after another from the last quarter of 2013 until last week alone. The spate of killings, some perpetrated in busy areas, remained unsolved.