Four killed in foiled Tondo pawnshop rob

[Clyde Adkins]

From: ©1996 The Manila Times
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Four killed in foiled Tondo
pawnshop rob

By Jan Escosio
Correspondent

FOUR persons, including a rookie policeman, were killed while 11
others were wounded during a foiled pawnshop robbery by six men
in Tondo, Manila, yesterday morning.
The police identified the fatalities as PO1 Emman Elgera, Fidel
Pagsanjan, 48, owner of the Ivy-Dianne Pawnshop; Flor Puna, 24,
pawnshop employee; and Gilbert Martinez, 22, of Tondo, a
passerby.
Wounded were Ernesto Mendez, 22; Rommel Sacdalan, 24; Ronnie
Asenanga, 32; Josie Sabas, 21, of Kalookan; Christie Dominguez,
22; Eva Pastor, 21; Arturo Lee, 43; Myrna Yanga, 33; Constantino
Markeria, Alejandro Yanga, 11, and two others not immediately
identified.
The victims, who sustained gunshot and shrapnel wounds, were
taken to the Chinese General Hospital, Jose Reyes Memorial
Hospital, and the Metropolitan Hospital.
The suspects, reportedly armed with an M16 and M203 assault
rifles, managed to flee under cover of gunfire aimed at mostly
innocent bystanders.
Senior Supt. Avelino Razon, Western Police District director, said
his men arrested a suspect, Choi Anas, 22, of Globo de Oro St.,
Quiapo, and was undergoing investigation.
Anas was arrested minutes after the incident on Rizal Avenue by a
blocking force led by station chief Supt. Gil de Castro.
Investigators said the suspects stormed the pawnshop at the corner
of J. Abad Santos Avenue and Tayabas Street at 8:45 a.m.
Pagsanjan reportedly resisted and was shot while Puna was gunned
down after she tried to reach for the telephone to call the police.
Forced to abort the robbery, the suspects commandeered a
passenger jeepney and fled towards the direction of Malabon while
shooting indiscriminately at the crowd.
When Elgera, of the WPD Station 7, learned of the robbery, he
immediately tried to respond but was gunned down by one of the
lookouts.
Dominguez, Pastor, and Lee were on board an L300 van when
they were hit in the crossfire. Pastor later told reporters that he was
shot by policemen.
"Napagkamalan kaming mga suspect," Pastor said. [We were
mistaken to be the suspects.]
The "misencounter" was reminiscent of the slaying of Remigio
Alcantara Sr., and his son Remigio Jr. last February 28, also in
Manila, during a heist at the PCI Bank Taft Avenue Branch.
The father and son were reportedly shot by responding WPD
lawmen. The WPD has, however, blamed the deaths to the fleeing
bank robbers.
Razon said his men were checking reports that the suspects were
lawmen or soldiers.