A suspected robber was fatally shot in a gunbattle with a police SWAT team along General Maxilom Avenue (GMA), Cebu City yesterday afternoon.
Ferdinand Pasa-an, 21 and a companion were carrying stereo speakers when they were spotted by a police team from the Theft and Robbery Section (TRS) of the Cebu City Police Office.
They allegedly dropped the speakers and tried to flee.
The policemen led by SPO4 Jaime Toring of the TRS gave chase, but one of the suspects allegedly pulled out a gun and fired at them before jumping off the bridge at the corner of Rahmann Street and GMA.
Toring’s team called for back up to flush out the suspects.
Members of the police SWAT team arrived and shot it out with the suspects which ended with Pasa-an being hit in the head and body. His companion remains at large.
Unarmed
Estrella Pasa-an, mother of the slain suspect, insisted her son was unarmed when the alleged shootout happened.
“Pinusilay? Nga wa man nay pusil?” Estrella said. (What shootout? My son doesn’t even have a gun?)
Estrella said she only learned about her son’s killing from radio reports.
She said Ferdinand, had told her he was going to the Lorega cemetery.
“Kun nakasala na akong anak, prisohon og dili pusilon”, the mother said. (If he did something wrong, they should just have put him in jail instead of shooting him.) Estrella Pasa-an admitted her son was previously arrested for a robbery case.