3 suspects shot dead by 'simbang gabi' patrol cops

Police officers on early morning patrol to secure churchgoers attending dawn Mass or “simbang gabi” allegedly shot it out with three men who allegedly robbed the passengers of a jeepney near a church in Quezon City yesterday.

The three slain suspects remain unidentified. One of them has a “Bahala na Gang” tattoo on his right shoulder while another bore a “Batang City Jail” tattoo.

Responding policemen recovered from the suspects an MK-2 fragmentation hand grenade and two .38 caliber revolvers.

The suspects were also carrying a black backpack containing clothes and a wristwatch and a wallet owned by two of the passengers.

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said village officials of Barangay Sto. Domingo found out after the firefight that the suspects had stuffed another black bag with items taken from their victims and put the bag in an open manhole near the site of the gunbattle. The bag recovered from the manhole contained a cellular phone, shirts, and an identification card.

The victims arrived at the scene of the shootout and identified the suspects as the same ones who robbed them, Mabanag said.

Prior to the shootout, which occurred at past 2 a.m., the victims were in a jeepney bound for Manila when the suspects boarded the vehicle at the corner of Quezon and Araneta Avenues.

When the jeepney reached the area of Sto. Domingo church, the suspects announced the heist and took the passengers’ belongings. They also ordered the jeepney driver to drop them off at the corner of Biak-na-Bato street, at which point they fled on foot.

The victims then sought the help of policemen patrolling Banawe Street. An alert was sent out to other teams, informing them about the heist.

A team led by Chief Inspector Enrico Figueroa and Senior Inspector Bernard Plan spotted the suspects at the corner of Biak-na-Bato and P. Florentino Street in Barangay Sto. Domingo.

As the policemen approached, the suspects allegedly opened fire, resulting in the gunbattle.