Such a shame, crime will never pay.

CEBU CITY, Philippines–A security guard and three suspected bank robbers were killed while four others, including two policemen and a bank teller, were wounded Monday morning in a failed robbery at a shopping mall, just a few meters away from Fuente Osmeña police station along Osmeña Blvd., in this city.

Cebu City Police Office Director Sr. Supt. Ramon Melvin Buenafe confirmed the death of all the three robbers and one security guard, who served as one of the two escorts of a China Bank teller, who was delivering cash to a money changer outlet at the Robinsons mall at 9 a.m.

The slain security guard was identified as Leofer Itac while the identities of the slain robbery suspects were still unknown.

The injured were PO1 Jay Catacutan and PO1 Roy Ceniza, both assigned to the Cebu City Mobile Patrol Group (MPG), the still unidentified bank teller, who was hit on the leg, and security guard Lito Odan, the second escort.

Catacutan, Ceniza, Odan and the bank teller were brought to Chong Hua Hospital for treatment.

According to the police, one of the suspects was waiting at the Osmeña Blvd. entrance of the Robinson’s supermarket while two others were at the food court in the mall’s basement.

The bank teller, who alighted from the armored vehicle of China Banking Corp., went down to the food court area accompanied by Itac, leaving Odan and an unidentified driver in the van.

The suspects then shot the guard and the bank teller and grabbed the bag containing the money.

Odan, on hearing the shots, rushed to the basement but was also fired upon.

As the three suspects fled with their loot through the Ramos St. entrance of the mall, they saw three MPG policemen who just happened to be passing by and fired at them. Catacutan was hit on the body and Ceniza on the leg.

All three suspects, one of them also wounded, boarded a motorcycle and sped toward Cebu Velez General Hospital along Ramos St.

Six responding MPG teams called in for reinforcement cornered the suspects on Ranudo St., several meters from the mall and a shootout ensued, killing the three suspects.

The police recovered the bag which, Buenafe said, contained P1.2 million.