Mandaluyong cop kills 3 rob suspects

A police officer killed three suspected robbers in an alleged shootout after he caught them in the act of robbing a 30-year-old woman in Mandaluyong City at dawn yesterday.

Senior Inspector Hoover Pascual, assigned at the station’s anti-illegal drugs special operations task force (SAID-SOTF), said he emptied his 12-gauge shotgun at the three suspects, who fired at him when he identified himself as a policeman.

After the exchange of gunfire, Rodel Zaragosa and Alex Galicia, both of San Jose street, Barangay Mauway, and their unidentified companion lay dead.

Initial investigation showed that Pascual was on his way to visit his father on Coronado street when he chanced upon the three suspects grabbing the handbag of businesswoman Lot Guillena, 30, who was walking home at about 3:30 a.m.

The robbers were in a tricycle (LN-9685), said Senior Superintendent Carlos de Sagun, Mandaluyong City police chief.

“I noticed that they were armed with handguns so I decided to accost them,” said Pascual, adding he grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun before rushing out of his vehicle.

De Sagun said responding Scene of the Crime Operatives recovered two .38 caliber revolvers from the slain suspects.

A sachet containing white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride was also found tucked in Zaragosa’s waistband.

De Sagun said the suspects have pending robbery cases in the city. “Galicia is also involved in burglary syndicate that victimizes houses in Barangay Hulo,” he said.

The police authorities are coordinating with the suspects’ families.

Metro Manila police chief Director Geary Barias recommended Pascual for spot promotion, saying that “although he was outnumbered, he didn’t think twice in facing the robbers to save the victim.” – With Cecille Suerte Felipe