3 rob-slay suspects killed in Quezon City shootout

MANILA, Philippines - Three men tagged in the death of a teenager in Quezon City and a robbery-homicide of a policeman in Samar province were killed in a gunbattle with Quezon City cops before dawn yesterday.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) has yet to identify the slain men except for one who was tagged as a certain Andrew.

QCPD Station 6 commander Superintendent Crisostomo Mendoza said a witness identified Andrew as among those behind the killing of out-of-school teenager Efren Cabacungan, who was found with gunshot wounds along Motorolla Street near the corner of Payatas Road in Barangay Commonwealth Thursday morning.

At first, police investigators thought the killing was fraternity-related but a witness said he saw Andrew and his companions loading Cabacungan’s bloody body into a tricycle in the area where the teenager was later found.

“And so we dispatched teams to go around areas reported to be frequented by the said suspect,” Mendoza said in an interview.

According to Mendoza, the witness, who accompanied the policemen, spotted Andrew along San Mateo Road near the corner of IBP Road at around 1 a.m. yesterday. However, when policemen got out of their patrol cars to approach the suspect, the latter and his two companions immediately boarded a red Isuzu Crosswind (XLE-532) and sped off.

Police officers gave chase, but two of the suspects started shooting at them upon reaching a tunnel leading towards Commonwealth Avenue. The lawmen fired back, killing the suspects on the spot.

Policemen recovered from the suspects a 9mm revolver with police marking and two .38 caliber revolvers, said Superintendent Lino Banaag, head of the QCPD-Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit.

Chief Inspector Benjamin Elenzano, deputy head of the QCPD-CIDU, said the Crosswind used by the suspects had been stolen.

Elenzano added that the 9mm revolver found in Andrew’s possession once belonged to Police Officer 3 Antonio Ataylar, who was killed in a bus robbery last Nov. 14 in Samar.

Mendoza said Cabacungan, according to his mother and other residents, had been involved in petty theft and may have worked for the suspects before his death. He cited that in a number of car thefts, gangs used teenagers to pick the lock of target vehicles.

“For still unknown reason, the suspects’ group might have decided to get rid of him (Cabacungan),” Mendoza said.

Two more boys found dead

In what could be a related development, the bodies of Vincent Mahilon, 14, and Albino Crisostomo, 15, were found with stab wounds at past 7 a.m. yesterday at a vacant lot along Motorolla Street, where Cabacungan’s body was found Thursday, Elenzano said.

Mendoza said the two other victims were gagged, hogtied and placed inside a sack. Village watchmen found them.

Police officials are looking into the possibility that the deaths of the two teenagers and that of Cabacungan’s may be related.

Mendoza said aside from their bodies being dumped in the same area, the three boys left their houses in Barangay Payatas Wednesday night.

Mendoza said Mahilon and Crisostomo may have been abducted by the suspects around the same time as Cabacungan but were killed later.

Mendoza said investigators are still looking for leads to solve the two murders.