Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela, director of the Eastern Police District (EPD), commended the Marikina City police for the swift response to a call for assistance, which led to the killing of the two still unidentified suspects.
The two suspects sustained multiple gunshot wounds and died on the spot.
Valenzuela said the duo, armed with a hand grenade and a caliber .38 revolver, held up a Rodriguez-Cubao jeepney on Chile street, Greenheights Subdivision Uno at about 6:50 p.m. last Thursday.
After divesting passengers of their cash and valuables, the suspects boarded a waiting motorcycle driven by a third suspect.
However, the victims managed to report the incident to the nearest police precinct.
Responding mobile cars and elements of the city’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) caught up with the robbers and cornered them near the Agora complex in Barangay Sto. Niño.
Witnesses said two of the suspects opened fire at the policemen, triggering a shootout.
Police said the third suspect escaped with the loot.
In Caloocan City, one of two men riding tandem on a motorcycle was killed after seriously wounding a night duty cop who accosted them in a residential village last Thursday night.
Chief Inspector Crisencio Galvez, intelligence chief, identified the slain suspect as Conrado Marcelo, 31, of Barangay Nagkaisang Nayon, Quezon City.
Galvez initially tagged Marcelo as leader of the "Kwatog Gang," a robbery group operating in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces.
Marcelo’s unidentified male companion escaped.
PO1 Joel Gonzales, 31, of the Almar Police Detachment, is being observed after undergoing surgery at the FEU Hospital in Fairview, Quezon City after being shot by the suspect.
A bystander, who was hit in the foot by a stray bullet, has been declared safe and sent home from the Quezon City General Hospital where he was taken, officials said.
The encounter broke out at around 7 p.m. at Vista Verde North Subdivision when Gonzales, a local resident, was on his way to work. The cop noticed two men acting suspiciously on board a motorcycle with guns tucked in their waist.
Realizing he was outnumbered, Gonzales sought the help of Alejandro Bayangos, 42, a security supervisor at the subdivision, before proceeding to accost the suspects.
As they approached, the suspects fired at Gonzales, who dropped to the ground wounded. Despite this, he returned fire hitting the escaping Marcelo.
Inspector Jessie de la Rosa of the Scene of the Crime Operations (SOCO) recovered a 9mm Beretta with two live rounds in the magazine, two spent shells and a deformed slug at the crime scene. – With Jerry Botial, Pete Laude