Cops vs robbers in Manila: 3 dead

Three persons were killed while three others were hurt, including two policemen, when suspected Waray-Waray Gang members engaged Manila police operatives in a running gunbattle that snaked through the streets of Binondo and Sta. Cruz Monday night.

The fatalities were identified as Dennis Caneso, 32, and Ariel Estrelles, 35, both residents of Letre, Malabon and suspected members of the robbery group, and vendor Roselio Lacaste, 30, of Sta. Cruz, Manila.

A third Waray-Waray Gang member identified as Ronald Pardillo, 19, was arrested by the police.

Injured were Senior Police Officer 1 Robert Zapata of the Binondo police station and PO3 Raul Baldomar of the Western Police District’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), and a passerby identified as Thelma de Vera, 40, a beautician, of Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Investigations conducted by Detective Athos de Quiros showed that at about 7:20 p.m. last Monday, the Binondo police station received reports that three armed men were roaming T. Alonzo street near C.M. Recto Avenue.

Policemen who responded to the scene were met by gunfire by the suspects, hitting Zapata in the left thigh. The policemen retaliated, hitting one of the suspects, later identified as Caneso.

Sensing they were outnumbered, suspect Pardillo gave himself up while Estrelles continued exchanging fire with the cops.

A running gunbattle ensued as Binondo policemen, now enforced by the Sta. Cruz police force and a SWAT team, chased Estrelles through the streets of Tomas Mapua and Kusang Loob in Binondo, finally ending at the SansTrans bus terminal along Doroteo Jose street in Sta. Cruz, where the suspect hid under a parked bus.

During the shootout, vendor Lacaste and passerby De Vera were hit by stray bullets. When the smoke cleared, suspect Estrelles was found bloodied and lifeless under the bus, with his gun still in his hand. SWAT officer Baldomar sustained a bullet wound in the leg.

The two civilians caught in the crossfire were rushed at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, with the vendor declared dead on arrival while the injured woman was treated for gunshot wounds in the right arm and left leg.

Police seized from the suspects two caliber .45 pistols and a caliber .38 revolver with ammunition. The firearms were subjected to ballistic examinations and were sent to the Firearms and Explosives Division at Camp Crame for verification.

National Capitol Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Ricardo de Leon visited the injured policemen at the Chinese General Hospital yesterday where he commended their acts of bravery and awarded P20,000 to each man.

The arrested suspect is now undergoing tactical interrogation to determine his participation in several holdup incidents in the past perpetrated by the Waray-Waray Gang, including the robbery-slaying of a male student from the City College of Manila last July 29 near the Binondo police station.