6 arrested in QC shooting spree

MANILA, Philippines - It took around 50 policemen to arrest five men and a 16-year-old boy yesterday for last Sunday’s shooting spree in Fairview, Quezon City.

Witnesses identified Alsaid Mindalano, 28, as the man who drove a red motorcycle during the shooting spree, said Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Chief Superintendent Richard Albano.

He and five others – Bochary Mindalano, 28; Anmad Madkadato, 18; Cesar Ate, 45; Mangontawar Monib, 31; and the boy – were arrested at their group’s hideout in Fairmont Subdivision yesterday afternoon.

The alleged gunman Mohammad Sandigan, was not there, Albano said. Sandigan remains at large.

He said policemen seized guns and grenades and suspected shabu weighing around 100 grams from the rundown bungalow that served as the suspects’ hideout.

Policemen were supposed to serve a warrant of arrest on an alleged member of the group for the killing of a policeman a few years ago. That member was not there, Albano said.

Policemen recovered the red motorcycle seen used by the spree killers along Regalado Avenue on Sunday, said Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU).

During Sunday’s random attacks, Rodelio dela Cruz, 34, was first to be shot. Cousins Gilmer Gabronino, 35, and Angelie Auguis, 35, were shot about 50 meters from the site where Dela Cruz was killed. Businesswoman Alodia Grace Go, 37, who had just gotten off a bus, was gunned down around 300 meters from the second victim.

Around 50 policemen from the QCPD’s CIDU, District Intelligence Division, Special Weapons and Tactics unit and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group were deployed to arrest the suspects, said Inspector Elmer Monsalve, head of the homicide investigation section of the QCPD-CIDU.

Monsalve said the suspects are believed to be engaged in robbery, among other illegal activities.

Makeshift firing range

The suspects were staying at the abandoned bungalow, which no longer had a roof, at Fairmont Subdivision.

A mirror was tied to the branch of a nearby tree to allow the suspects to see if anyone was coming in.

The men staying at the hideout even had their own “makeshift firing range,” allowing the suspects to practice target shooting.

When policemen barged into the hideout, the men were huddled in one spot, their arms linked together, said Inspector Alan Dela Cruz.

After Alsaid was arrested, policemen confiscated his driver’s license. In the jacket of the license was a news clipping about the killing of a teenager in North Fairview, Albano said.

Precinct chief sacked

A police major, who heads a precinct in North Fairview, was relieved from his post because of the shooting spree.

Albano said yesterday he had removed Chief Inspector Ramon Cabili from his post as commander of the community precinct in Barangay North Fairview, which has jurisdiction over the area where the shooting spree occurred before dawn on Sunday.