A YOUNG woman was killed by a stray bullet during a police shootout with armed robbers on Friday night, January 20.

Michel Marlenys Batista Espinoza, 20, was in the doorway of her home in the Nuevo Mexico sector, of  Chilibre when the gun battle erupted, following  a chase  of a stolen taxi by a police patrol,

The taxi-driver has been robbed at gunpoint and threatened with a knife before being left gagged and bund. in Caimitillo a short time before.

The cornered thieves opened fire on the police who responded, reports El Siglo.

The young woman was hit and collapsed and helped by police agents who took her to the emergency room of the San Isidro Health Center in San Miguelito, where she died.

A National Police, statement said:  "The institution is collaborating  with officials of the Public Prosecutor's Office that is carrying out the investigations of the case to clarify this unfortunate event."

Three suspects were arrested including one wanted for rape and robbery according to the police.