By Glazyl Y. Masculino
BACOLOD City – Police are probing the robbery hold-up and shooting incidents that wounded a rescuer and her mother at Sitio Lapak, Barangay Robles, La Castellana, Negros Occidental yesterday.
Police identified the victims as Shaem Job Galimba, 34; and her mother Chona, 60, a retired teacher.
Staff Sergeant Andronico Tribaco, investigator of La Castellana Municipal Police Station, said Galimba was driving a sports utility vehicle (SUV) when an unidentified person carrying a banana trunk flagged them down.
Galimba stopped for a while to check, but five persons suddenly appeared and went near their vehicle.
One of the six unidentified persons then fired a gun, hitting Galimba’s mother who was sitting in the front passenger seat. The perpetrators then declared a hold-up.
Tribaco said Galimba tried accelerating the vehicle to escape after hearing the gunshot, but one of the perpetrators also shot her.
The perpetrators allegedly carted away some of the victims’ valuables and fled on foot toward the mountainous part of the town.
Police have yet to determine the value of the stolen items.
Police recovered from the scene an empty fired cartridge and a slug of .45 caliber ammunition.
Tribaco said Galimba’s five-month-old baby girl and their two other companions seated in the rear passenger seat were unharmed. The two wounded victims were taken to a hospital here.
Tribaco said the perpetrators probably hid in a secluded area near the crime scene as they recovered two bottles of water and a pair of slippers.
Tribaco said they have no identities yet of the perpetrators who might be residents of another area.
“Mga pangayaw kuno based sa description,” he added.
