3 armed men killed in Quezon City gun battle

MANILA, Philippines - After being spotted on board a sedan that was stolen nine years ago, three armed men were killed in a gunbattle with policemen after they engaged authorities in a chase that started in Mandaluyong and ended in Quezon City Tuesday night. The three suspected car thieves have yet to be identified, but one of them had a tattoo in his right arm, indicating that he could be a member of the Sigue-Sigue Sputnik Gang. A fourth suspect, however, managed to board a back-up vehicle and escaped.

They shot it out with operatives of the Quezon City Police District’s Anti-Carnapping Section led by Inspector Angelo Nicolas, who blocked them at the corner of Edsa and NIA Road as the suspects were trying to escape from a chasing group of policemen from the Highway Patrol Group at around 8 p.m.

Two of the slain men were dead on the spot while the third one was declared dead on arrival at the East Avenue Medical Center.

Prior to the gunbattle, elements of the HPG led by Chief Inspectors Allan Macapagal and Henry Cerdon while on patrol in Mandaluyong City spotted the suspects on board a blue Honda Civic (AED-115) that turned out to be on the police’s “alarm list.” According to Nicolas, the sedan was stolen while parked in front of a house in Kapaskan, Pasig City in Jan. 2000.

Based on information that instantly came out of the HPG’s database, policemen then ordered the driver of the sedan to pull over but it went unheeded and the vehicle sped off toward the direction of Quezon City.

The HPG team then alarmed other police units, including the QCPD-ANCAR, to conduct a road block. Anti-Carnapping operatives spotted the vehicle in Quezon City.

They tried to intercept the vehicle but the suspects continued speeding off until they were finally cornered at the corner of Edsa and NIA Road.

Nicolas said that at that point, the sedan’s driver got off the vehicle and was picked up by a back-up vehicle that appeared to be a Toyota Revo that sped off northwards.

The remaining three men engaged policemen in a gunbattle. After two of the suspects died on the spot, QCPD-ANCAR operatives saw the third armed man still alive, prompting them to rush him to the EAMC where he eventually expired.

Policemen recovered from the suspects a caliber .38 revolver, a caliber .45 pistol, a caliber .22 Magnum handgun.   – Reinir Padua