Robbery try at Pasay mall disrupts MRT Taft Avenue station operations

(Updated 4:23 p.m.) - Operations of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3) were disrupted for several minutes Thursday afternoon following an attempted robbery-holdup at a mall in a busy area of Pasay City.

 

The incident caused a brief "stampede" of people from the mall, injuring at least one woman going up the stairs leading to the Metro Rail Transit.

 

"Na-stampede ako, nasagasaan ako. Hindi ko na alam ano ang nangyari sa akin," the injured woman said in an interview on dzBB radio.

 

MRT operations were restored shortly after 4 p.m., Light Rail Transit Authority spokesman Hernando Cabrera said.

 

The incident occurred past 3 p.m. at the Metropoint mall at the corner of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) and Taft Avenue, where the stations of the LRT-1 and MRT-3 are located.

 

An initial tweet by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said the incident was a robbery-holdup, with police and media converging at the area.

 

Pasay City police secured the mall and closed off the connecting bridge to the LRT and MRT.

 

The dzBB report said the robbers had targeted a pawnshop inside the mall.

 

Many employees were "trapped" inside the mall as they were not allowed to go out while police inspected all the stalls inside the mall in case the robbers were hiding there.

 

Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) spokesman Hernando Cabrera said that while the shooting was not in the LRT or MRT station, it affected "passenger mobility" in the area.

 

"May pumuputok pa so stop entry and exit sa station for safety and security reason," Cabrera said as of 3:43 p.m.

 

But he said only the MRT-3 Taft station was affected, while the LRT-1 station was not. The dzBB report said the connecting bridge to the Metropoint Mall was closed.

 

Cabrera said the MRT-3 operations were suspended, but only at the Taft Avenue station.

 

"MRT3 Taft Station operation was affected (but) LRT1 EDSA Station (is) secured and operating," he said. –KG, GMA News