Hotel worker killed, 2 hurt in QC ambush

A 48-year-old hotel worker was shot dead while his daughter and her schoolmate were seriously injured after they were ambushed by a group of armed men during a high-speed chase the other night in Quezon City.

Victim Fernando Lozada, a resident of 49 Ferdinand St., Vista Verde Executive Village in Cainta, Rizal, sustained gunshot wounds in the head and body and was pronounced dead on arrival at the National Orthopedic Hospital.

Lozada’s daughter, Clarissa Frances, 17, suffered injuries after the vehicle they were riding crashed into a gutter, while her school friend Marian Uson, of Nueve de Pebrero, Mandaluyong City, suffered a bullet wound in the head. Both are now confined at the Capitol Medical Center.

Police are now hunting the still unidentified gunmen who fled onboard two vehicles after the shooting.

Initial investigations showed that the incident occurred at about 8:20 p.m. while the victims were inside their Mitsubishi Lancer with plate number TKM-265, cruising along Araneta Avenue in Quezon City.

Lozada, chief steward of the New World Hotel, Clarissa and Uson were on their way home when they were flagged down by the gunmen, who were onboard two parked vehicles.

Fernando, who spotted the armed men, sensed trouble and sped-off. The suspects fired at the vehicle and pursued them triggering a high-speed chase which took them all the way to Maria Clara street in Barangay Sto. Domingo.

As the victims’ vehicle reached the area, the gunmen, who were not far behind, again opened fire, hitting Fernando in the back of the neck. The victims’ car then crashed hard into a gutter.

Authorities said the impact of the crash was so strong that the hood of Lozada’s car pressed unto the windshield, shattering the glass and injuring Clarissa.

At this point, the gunmen were not yet finished as they stopped right in front of the victims’ vehicle and sprayed bullets on it, killing Fernando. He was hit in different parts of the body. Uson also sustained a gunshot wound in the head.

The armed men fled the incident onboard their vehicles, as the bloodied victims were taken to the hospital.

Members of the Central Police District recovered slugs and shells of a caliber .45 pistol and a .9 mm revolver inside the car and at the crime scene. According to investigators, the three could have been the victims of a "mistaken identity," and that they are still conducting follow-up operations on the case.