LAHORE, Oct 23: Robbers on a looting spree shot dead a 15-year-old boy and injured his father during a robbery in Gunbad Colony, Mughalpura, on Thursday and later opened fire on police which hit a man in a passing by rickshaw, witnesses and police said.

The outlaws reportedly first snatched cash and a cell phone from a junk dealer and then raided an adjacent shop where they opened fire at the owner, Bashir and his son Basharat on putting up resistance, injuring both of them. Basharat, a class IX student, later died in the hospital.

Later, the outlaws also opened fire on three Mughalpura police officials at Chowk Mughalpura while fleeing and injured a man in a rickshaw.

“I was sitting at my shop when two armed robbers, riding a bike, turned up at around 10.30am and one of them asked me to hand over cash and my cell phone. The other robber went to the adjacent shop of Muhammad Bashir,” junk dealer Haji Shamshad Ali told Dawn at the crime scene.

Shamshad said the robber snatched his wallet, Rs8,500 and a cell phone from him and fired a single bullet on the ground to terrorise him when he requested the outlaw to at least return his CNIC which was in his wallet.

The other robber took Bashir at gunpoint and asked him to hand over the cash, he was counting at that time, he added.

When Bashir resisted, the robber opened fire on him, Shamshad said, adding Basharat, son of Bashir, came in front of his father to save him and received three bullets in his chest. Two bullets also hit Bashir, he added.

The robbers took away Rs25,000 and a cell phone from Bashir and fled towards Shalimar Link Road on their bike, Shamshad said.Meanwhile, Mughalpura SHO Qamar Abbas told Dawn that three Mohafiz Force officials, who were patrolling Shalimar Link Road on two motorcycles, signaled two suspected people, riding a numberless motorcycle but they fled towards Chowk Mughalpura.

He said police gave a chase to the suspects who opened fire on them which injured one Asif of Walton Road who was later operated upon in the Services Hospital.

He said the police did not retaliate the fire as there were a large number of motorists and pedestrians there.

“The robbers managed to flee under the cover of a passenger bus and finding signal green at Chowk Mughalpura,” he claimed.

Ali Raza, elder son of Haji Bashir, said officials of Mughalpura police reached the spot after 20 minutes of the incident.