2 drugstore heist suspects killed in shootout

MANILA, Philippines - Two robbery suspects who tried but failed to rob a drugstore were killed in an ensuing gunbattle with responding policemen along EDSA in Balintawak, Quezon City before dawn yesterday.

Police believe the two unidentified men may be the same ones who killed Police Officer 2 Dennis Quejada, who was a traffic policeman, in the area last month.

“The suspects in the two incidents were both riding in tandem on a motorbike, wearing helmets that covered their faces and did a counterflow on the road as they were trying to escape from authorities,” said Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., head of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) District Police Intelligence Operating Unit (DPIOU).

“And just like in the past case wherein they grabbed the slain policeman’s service firearm, these two robbers also demanded to get the gun of the shop’s security guard, who turned out to be unarmed,” Pedrozo told The STAR in an interview yesterday, moments after the encounter.

One of the suspects was identified through an ID card as Robert Sapilan. The other remains unidentified. They were both armed with a .38 caliber revolver.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego said they believe the suspects were behind the series of robberies in the area.

Chief Inspector Enrico Figueroa said that based on their tattoos, Sapilan was a member of Bahala na Gang while the unidentified suspect was connected with the Commando Group.

Prior to the encounter, the suspects barged into the drugstore and beat up security guard Segundo Ugalde, who tried to grab one of the suspects’ guns.

Pedrozo said while the two suspects were still in the store, a police patrol car passed in front of the store. “The suspects then got out of the store without taking anything, fired their guns and hit the glass pane of the shop,” he said.

Figueroa said they saw the two suspects going against traffic on the northbound lane of EDSA. The suspects shot at them, triggering a running gunbattle. The back-riding suspect fell along EDSA, while the driver was hit as he approached the corner of EDSA and Fema Road. Both men died on the spot.