Student shot dead after robbing ATM customer

JAKARTA (JP): A senior university student was shot dead on Friday morning by a BCA bank security guard after robbing an ATM customer on Jl. Radio Dalam in South Jakarta.

Detectives chief of the local police precinct, Maj. Rycko Amelza, identified the suspect as Joan Dani Wardana, 21, a seventh-semester student of the School of Information Technology at University Gunadharma.

He was shot dead in the back by the bank's security guard, Heru Rizal, 23, with a Winchester shotgun, the officer said.

"The bullet broke into pieces in his body," Rycko said.

The incident took place at about 6:30 a.m. near the bank's ATM booth at a BCA branch office in Radio Dalam.

The customer, Immanuel Moreno Hutauruk, 41, had just withdrawn Rp 380,000 (US$50) from his account at the booth when Joan, with a sickle in his hand, entered the booth and grabbed the cash from Immanuel, Rycko told reporters.

"Joan succeeded in taking the money, but when he was about to take off on his black Suzuki Shogun motorcycle, the security guard spotted him and fired his gun," the officer explained.

Parents of the dead student, however, refused to allow the body of their son to be examined post-mortem by forensic experts, Rycko said.

"But it has to be done anyway to find out the areas of his body hit by the pieces of the bullet," the officer insisted.

Another armed robbery took place in the mayoralty at about 1:45 p.m. on the same day when four men riding on two motorcycles with helmets and black jackets robbed a man of a black bag containing Rp 85 million.

Before taking off, one of the culprits slashed the lower part of the left arm of the victim, identified later as Suparwi, with a machete.

The robbery took place in front of the victim's house on Jl. Damai V just as Suparwi got out of his red van with his brother Suradi and driver Dono.

Suradi told reporters that the whole incident took place within three minutes.

"Those men came. When my brother got out of the car, they took the money bag from him, slashed his left hand, and sped off," he said.

For new car

He explained that his brother, a businessman like himself, had just withdrawn the money from a BCA branch office on Jl. Fatmawati.

"That money was for a new car," Suradi said.

Based on witness testimony, police were able to identify two of the suspected gang members as Sa and Mo.

"Sa is a longtime robber, who lives in Depok. I know his wife very well. He is actually an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver but also works as a part-time robber. His wife has told him many times to give up robbing people," officer Rycko said.

Armed robberies against bank customers, he said, frequently occur on Friday middays when the streets were busy with Muslims, including police officers, who temporarily leave their work for the Friday prayer.

A day earlier, a Central Jakarta police officer shot dead a suspected thief when caught red-handedly attempting to grab a gold chain from the neck of a 21 year-old babysitter on Jl. Kramat Bunder in Senen.

According to Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis, the deceased suspect is a 31 year-old homeless named Nicolas.

Nicolas was shot in the chest by First Lt. Suharjono, who spotted the suspect trying to take the jewelry from Tati Kustiawati, 21, on Thursday afternoon.

"Nicolas died on his way to the Kramatjati police hospital in East Jakarta," Zainuri said.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old man suspected of stealing a motorcycle from its owner was badly mobbed by residents at Taman Semanan Indah housing complex in Kalideres, West Jakarta, when caught trying to steal the motorcycle on Thursday night.

"Sardimun was immediately driven off to the Kramatjati hospital," officer Zainuri added. (ylt)