Shootouts in QC,  Ayala Alabang

Two robbery suspects were killed and a suspected thief caught in two separate shootouts with police officers in Quezon City and Muntinlupa City.

The two slain suspects, who were on a black Honda motorcycle, shot at seven Quezon City policemen who tried to approach them at around 9:15 a.m. yesterday on Pitimini street in Barangay Paltok.

Superintendent Alex Sintin, chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) District Police Intelligence and Operations Unit, said they were on routine patrol when they spotted the two suspects, who were  “suspicious looking.” 

“When they noticed that we were policemen, they opened fire,” Sintin told reporters.  

A resident interviewed by The STAR said the suspects, armed with .38 revolvers, were not residents and that she had never seen the two suspects prior to the incident. 

After the shootout, police noticed that the motorcycle’s license plates were tampered from ZP 7117 to ZR 7112. No one among the policemen was hurt although a bullet hit the patrol car. 

Superintendent Bernabe Balba, QCPD intelligence chief, said patrol operations are routinely done every Monday due to past  reports of robberies in the area, which is near a number of banks and automated teller machines along West Avenue.

“Usually every Monday, there are those who withdraw or deposit huge amounts of cash that are being targeted by robbers,” he said.  

Balba also told The STAR that some of the past robbery victims described a suspect with hair highlights, just like one of the two men who were killed in yesterday’s shootout. The suspect was estimated to be in his 20s and with a small build. The other was estimated to be in his 30s and a bit stocky. 

Senior Superintendent Federico Laciste Jr., QCPD deputy director for operations, also said that they are verifying whether the two are the ones who shot dead a barangay official in the Camanava (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) area Sunday night.  

He said reports from the Northern Police District state that the suspects in the shooting incident were also on a black motorcycle.

In Muntinlupa City, police caught one of three suspects who broke into a vehicle left unattended in front of the St. James Church in Ayala Alabang Sunday night.

Chief Inspector Isidro de Guzman, head of the Muntinlupa Police Criminal Investigation Unit, identified the suspect as Jimmy Atup, 27, jobless, and a resident of Carnival Park in BF Resort, Las Piñas City.

De Guzman said Atup’s group broke the right window of a silver Ford Everest (XRU-231), owned by Dr. Vicente Arguelles, at around 8 p.m. The suspects took credit cards, a cell phone, a digital camera, two leather bags and a wallet with P10,000 cash, then boarded a black Honda CRV (WFP-624) and drove away.

A roving guard spotted the suspects and called for help. Policemen in a patrol vehicle chased Atup and his companions while exchanging gunfire with the group.

De Guzman said the police officers caught up with the suspects’ vehicle but the robbers immediately got out of the car and tried to elude arrest. The lawmen caught Atup but his companions, identified as Joel and Joey Masayon, escaped.

Atup has been charged with robbery, according to De Guzman.