4 KFR members killed in Quezon City shootout

A leader of a dreaded kidnap-for-ransom group and three of his cohorts were killed in a shootout with policemen in Quezon City before dawn yesterday.

Calvin Lagado and three men identified as Emelito Comia, Rex Mirafuente and Joel Esguerra were killed after they shot it out with operatives of the Quezon City Police District’s Anti-Carnapping Section and Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group along Quezon Avenue. Comia, Mirafuente and Esguerra were dead on the spot and were immediately identified through driver’s licenses and other identification cards found in their possession.

Initially, the police said the suspects were members of a carjack group until Lagado was finally identified. Lagado was dead on arrival at the East Avenue Medical Center at 2:58 a.m. and was initially unnamed.

Inspector Angelo Nicolas, chief of the QCPD-ANCAR, said the Police Anti-Crime and Emergency Response went yesterday morning and identified Lagado as among those in their “target list.” “Lagado’s group is among the active kidnap-for-ransom gangs according to PACER,” Nicolas said in an interview.

Nicolas said the National Bureau of Investigation arrested Lagado in 2004 on murder charges. Lagado, however, was able to post bail in 2007 and started his kidnapping activities. Nicolas said it was probable that other members of the group are still alive but it was a good thing that their leader had been neutralized.

According to Nicolas, it could be that the group was about to stage a kidnapping the moment they encountered the police based on the firearms recovered from them. These include a .45 caliber Colt handgun, a .45 caliber Ithaca gun, a .9 caliber millimeter handgun and a Daewoo caliber .9 millimeter gun.

“Most members of kidnap-for-ransom operate individually before they stage an attack. When they are about to kidnap a target, that’s the time they already bring their guns,” Nicolas said.

The incident happened at around 2:45 a.m. along an underpass on Quezon Avenue.

Operatives of the QCPD-ANCAR led by Nicolas and PNP-HPG led by Chief Inspector Allan Macapagal were conducting anti-carnapping spotting operation when they spotted the suspects’ vehicle at the corner of Quezon and Roosevelt Avenues.

The green Toyota Revo carrying the suspects (ZFW-363) did not match the vehicle, which Nicolas said was of an old model.

Policemen flagged down the vehicle, but instead of pulling over, the suspects sped away, resulting in a chase. As the policemen came nearer the suspects’ vehicle, the latter opened fire, prompting the police to retaliate.

Apart from the guns and vehicle, policemen also recovered from the suspects’ possession two cellular phones and a bag containing a polo shirt.