A SUSPECTED snatcher, who is a member of the dreaded Batang Mindanao (BM) 29 gang, was hacked and shot by a jeepney driver along Limketkai Drive in Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City Saturday.
Chief Inspector Reynante Reyes, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (Cidu) of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office (Cocpo), identified the victim as Renato M. Vistal, 30, a resident of Barangay 34.
Vistal sustained multiple stab wounds and three gunshot wounds in different parts of his body. He is in critical condition at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center as of this posting Saturday.
Police authorities identified the suspect as Ernie C. Robles, 20, a public utility jeepney (PUJ) driver who hails from Kolambog in Barangay Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City. He surrendered to the police after the incident.
Reyes said Robles was driving the PUJ when Vistal's group threw stones at him.
Robles stopped the vehicle and confronted the victim, which later resulted to the hacking and shooting.
"I admit I hacked him but I don't know who shot him. But I was only doing it for self-defense because he attacked me first," Robles said, adding that he is willing to undergo paraffin test to prove that he did not fire a gun during the incident.
Vistal, according to Robles, had an ill feeling towards him because he refuses to stop every time the former's group flags down his PUJ. Vistal and his group are known snatchers and pickpockets, he said.
Based on police records, Reyes said Vistal committed several crimes in the city.
"But even if the victim is a known police character, we don't have the right to place the law into our own hands," Reyes said.
Robles is now detained at the Maharlika Detention Cell in Barangay Carmen pending the filing of charges against him.
Police said they would conduct further investigation to determine who really shot the victim.