Gunmen shoot cop, woman in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 24, 2010) – Police captured a gunman who shot a woman and a cop on Wednesday after a robbery in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said.

The policeman was shot four times in the body and died in the hospital while the woman is wounded in the attack.

Police said two gunmen held up a branch of the Western Union, a provider of electronic financial transactions, and shot the woman, an employee, before escaping on a motorcycle.

A policeman who tried to accost the men for violating traffic rules several blocks away from Western Union branch was shot as he approached the two suspects near the Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

“One of the suspects was arrested after a pursuit operation and we have recovered a bag they stole from the Western Union branch,” said Senior Superintendent Edwin de Ocampo, the local police chief.

Police recovered a .45-caliber pistol and bullets from the man who was identified as Nuri Malimbat alias Susulan. A photo of him and another man holding an automatic weapon was also found from his wallet.

The second gunman is still being hunted by the police. It was unknown whether the men are guns-for-hire or members of a crime syndicate behind the string of robberies in Zamboanga City. (Mindanao Examiner)