University student shot by motorcycle-riding robbers

CEBU, Philippines - A 19-year-old student of a university landed at the hospital after she was shot by a man who robbed her of her mobile phone in Barangay Labangon late Tuesday night.

Ralene Lagudas, an Architecture major of the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U), sustained a gunshot wound on her left armpit.

A report from the Homicide Section showed that Lagudas, a native of Poblacion, Sibonga, was walking along Salvador Ext. corner Tres de Abril St. at around 9 pm last Tuesday when two men on a motorcycle stopped before her and declared a holdup.

Witnesses reportedly saw Lagudas holding her iPhone and using it while walking along the dimly-lighted  area.

She was passing an internet café when the robbers approached her. The robbers reportedly threatened to shoot her if she would not hand her phone over to them.

However, the victim reportedly resisted and refused to give her phone that resulted to a brief scuffle between her and one of the robbers.

At this juncture, the armed robber shot the victim once before speeding off with her bag and phone.

Alcher Cañas, a resident in the area, thought a couple was fighting so he went outside and shouted at the victim and the suspects, “Hoy!”

He then saw the victim sprawled to the ground already bloodied and the robbers fleeing the area.  With the help of some residents, the victim was rushed to the nearby Miller Hospital.

The victim is now in a stable condition, PO3 Robert John De Castro of Punta Princesa Police Station revealed.

He said an X-ray examination conducted on the victim showed that the bullet did not affect any vital organ.

However, De Castro disclosed that the victim kept staring into space, apparently disturbed by her ordeal.

It was learned that the victim refused to hand over her phone  to the robbers because it was given by her father.

“Gigahi-gahi niya’g hatag, gibunlot pud iyang bag, niingon man nga ambi nang imong cellphone, kay og di mohatag pusilon tika, (She refused to give her phone. They even grabbed her bag and told her to hand over her phone or they will shoot her),” De Castro narrated.

Police recovered an empty shell of a firearm that bore a hole at the door of the internet café.

Cebu City Police Office head Mariano Natuel, Jr. has ordered a manhunt operation for the arrest of the assailants.

“I called on the public to report to us if duna sila’y information that will lead to the arrest of these motorcycle-riding suspects,” said Natuel.

Meanwhile, a man suspected to be behind the series of theft incidents victimizing joggers at the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) was finally caught last Tuesday.

Rommel Singson, 25, was arrested by barangay officers and resident who chased him after he was seen stealing from the bag of Annalyn Pernia.

Pernia, who went to the place to jog, pointed at the suspect as the one who took her cellular phone from her bag.

Singson, a resident of Barangay Guadalupe, would reportedly pose as a jogger at the CCSC and steal from the bags of the joggers.

The suspect strongly denied the accusation, saying he just saw the phone and picked it up. He ran away in fear that the people chasing him would stab or maul him. — (FREEMAN)