Superintendent Rodolfo Jaraza, chief of the Quezon City Police District intelligence division said three of the still unidentified suspects died on the spot while another was dead on arrival at the East Avenue Medical Center.
The encounter came on the heels of a directive by Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. for the local police to intensify the campaign against criminal groups, particularly carjackers operating in Quezon City.
QCPD director Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan has ordered his intelligence unit to monitor the movements of suspected criminal groups entering the city.
Jaraza said a police team, headed by Chief Inspector Lino Banaag, was alerted yesterday afternoon about a robbery at a Total Gas station in Libis.
A general alarm was raised on the suspects, who fled toward Katipunan Avenue.
At around 3 p.m., Banaag’s team spotted the suspects’ vehicle — a grey Toyota Corona.
When the team tried to flag down the vehicle, the suspects, armed with caliber .45 pistols, .38 revolvers and a fragmentation grenade, fired at the lawmen.
The lawmen fired back, hitting all four suspects.
"Three of the suspects died on the spot while the other one died at the hospital. We are still verifying their identities," Jaraza told The STAR.
He said that the suspects belonged to the Molino robbery gang based in Molino, Cavite. They have been tagged in several bank, payroll and gas station robberies in Metro Manila.
In Caloocan City, two gunmen riding tandem on a motorcycle shot to death a businesswoman and her helper in front of her stunned employees when they resisted a robbery on the road last Friday night.
Some P150,000 in cash and valuables were taken by the suspects.
Superintendent Napoleon Cuaton, Station Investigation and Detection Management Bureau (SIDMB) chief, identified the fatalities as Jennifer Manuel, 35, married, of Pitong Gatang street, Maligaya Park, Caloocan and her stay-in helper Ricardo Dejomo, a native of Talim Island, Cardona, Rizal.
Cuaton said Manuel and four of her employees were walking at around 8 p.m. along Pitong Bahay street in Barangay 177 to bring P100,000 in cash to an unnamed business associate in the neighborhood when the suspects struck.
The duo came from behind, blocked their path and announced a holdup. Dejomo, who was carrying the bag containing the cash, refused to let go and was shot in the chest.
Manuel panicked and started screaming. She was shot in the face.
The duo sped away in the dark with the loot.
Their companions, regaining their senses, took Manuel to the FEU Hospital in Fairview, Quezon City and Dejomo to the San Lorenzo Hospital, but both were declared dead on arrival due to the severity of their injuries. – With Jerry Botial