Lawyer, Manila cop shot dead in Malolos

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – A lawyer and a Manila police officer who had just attended a court hearing were gunned down by motorcycle-riding men along the MacArthur Highway in Malolos City Thursday morning, authorities said.

In a report here, Senior Superintendent Fernando Mendez, Bulacan police director, said the victims, lawyer Lyzandro Giron Sanchez Sr. and PO2 Rommel Fulgar Coquia, had just attended a hearing at Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 48 and were on their way back to Manila onboard a Nissan Sentra when they were waylaid.

The armed men got near the window of the Nissan Sentra and shot Sanchez and Coquia several times with a .45-caliber pistol, killing them on the spot, Mendez said.

Mendez said Coquia was facing charges of car theft and robbery and Sanchez was his legal counsel.

Police records show that Coquia, assigned at the Smokey Mountain Police Community Precinct of the Manila Police District, was found in alleged possession of a stolen motorcycle. He was also accused of extortion.