The suspects, with ages ranging from 13 to 17, were reportedly members of the Friday the 13th Gang, one of several youth street gangs which figure in nightly rumbles in Paco district.
According to Manila Police District (MPD)’s homicide section head Chief Inspector Alejandro Yanquiling Jr., the five youths were positively identified by witnesses as among those who ganged up and killed barangay tanod George Dorero. Three other tanods and a 16-year-old male resident were hurt in the melee.
The alleged gun used in the crime, a calber .22 Magnum, was later recovered from a barangay chairman who claimed to have confiscated the firearm from one of the suspects.
The minors were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) while charges are being readied against them.
Meanwhile, police are now hunting the alleged killer of a 21-year-old student who was held up on board a passenger jeepney last week.
Yanquiling said one of two men arrested for riding in tandem on a black and blue motorcycle, with license plate TM-5521, identified as Adrian Clemen, 21, volunteered to lead policemen to the lair of the suspect in the robbery-slaying of Jhon Mark Cerbito, 21, of Sta. Ana, Manila last Thursday. — Nestor Etolle