Retired cop ambushed in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines - Two men on a motorcycle ambushed a retired police colonel in Quezon City yesterday afternoon.

Retired senior superintendent Wally Sombero and his driver were cruising along E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue in a Hyundai Starex van when their attackers blocked the van and shot them near the corner of Gilmore street at around 3:30 p.m., according to Chief Superintendent Elmo San Diego, director of the Quezon City Police District.

San Diego said the back-rider of the motorcycle was armed with a handgun and fired shots at the Starex van, hitting Sombero and his driver.

According to Superintendent Gerardo Ratuita, head of the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, Sombero’s driver was hit once in the shoulder and was still able to bring his boss to the St. Luke’s Medical Center.

San Diego said Sombero sustained three gunshot wounds in the torso and another one in the head. As of early last night, he said Sombero was in “critical condition” and undergoing an operation at the hospital.

“No one was able to take note of and tell us the plate number of the motorcycle used by the suspects,” Ratuita said in a separate interview.

He said that at the moment, they have yet to get the description of the suspects who carried out the ambush.

“We are still looking for witnesses who may have been present there at the crime scene,” Ratuita said.

Police investigators have yet to establish the motive behind the attack.