Five hurt in QC shootout

Five people, one of them a responding senior police officer, were hurt following a brief shootout between operatives of the Central Police District (CPD) and four supected jeepney robbers in Quezon City yesterday afternoon.

Those wounded, including SPO2 Danilo Galang of CPD-Station 5, were rushed to the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) for treatment. Galang sustained a gunshot wound on the left side of his body.

Superintendent Jolly Dizon, chief of the CPD-Station 5 in Fairview, told The Star that the suspects held up a Philcoa-bound passenger jeepney at around 4:30 p.m. yesterday while it was traversing Commonwealth Avenue.

Initial information gathered disclosed that the suspects boarded another passenger jeepney after divesting victims of their belongings.

One of the victimized passengers immediately sought assistance from police who then quickly went after the suspects.

Responding officers spotted the fleeing suspects in the Manggahan area. Upon seeing the lawmen, Dizon said, one of the suspects suddenly opened fire at the officers, resulting to the shootout. Four bystanders were caught in the crossfire.

Dizon said that two of the four suspects were apprehended.

The two other suspects are being hunted down.

Dizon, however, said that one of the suspects might have been hit by an officer’s bullet and may have been taken to a nearby hospital.