Engineer outgunned in shootout

A civil engineer succumbed to several gunshot wounds after shooting it out with two unidentified gunmen while entertaining friends in his house the other night in Caloocan City.

Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo, Station Investigation and Intelligence Division (SIID) chief, identified the victim as Danilo Lebiste, 39, married, of Phase 8-B Package 18, Blk. 11 Lot 51, Bagong Silang in Caloocan City. He sustained wounds in different parts of the body caused by bullets fired from caliber .38 and .45 handguns.

The shootout took place at around 10 p.m. in front of the victim’s residence. Edgar Corbito and Pepito Lagumay, the victim’s friends, told probers they were enjoying some beer and liquor when the suspects approached the victim. After one of the suspects shouted "Walang tatakbo sa inyo! (Nobody moves!)," the other one pumped a shot at the victim hitting him in the right thigh.

Corbito and Lagumay reportedly ran for their lives even as the wounded Lebiste took advantage of the initial commotion and went up his house and got his 9 mm pistol and shot it out with the suspects. He proved no match, however, as, outgunned and outnumbered, he slumped dead on the floor after a furious exchange of gunfire. – Jerry Botial