Jammed pistol seals slain cop’s fate

MANILA, Philippines - Inspector Rodelio Dionco, who was killed in an ambush in Quezon City on Sunday, would have been able to save himself had his gun not failed him, investigators said yesterday.

Dionco’s gun jammed after he fired a single shot at one of his assailants, said Inspector Elmer Monsalve, head of the Homicide Investigation Section of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (QCPD-CIDU).

Dionco, deputy chief of the intelligence branch of the QCPD Station 12, was killed in an attack along IBP Road in Barangay Batasan Hills at past 2 p.m. on Sunday.

“He (Dionco) was able to get off his owner-type jeep and fire a shot. That means the first shot he received was not fatal,” Monsalve said in an interview.

But Dionco’s gun jammed and the seven other bullets got stuck in his handgun.

“Had his gun not jammed, he would have been able to hit his attackers,” Monsalve said.

Chief Inspector Rodel Marcelo, head of the QCPD-CIDU, said they were looking into a number of angles and could not zero in on a particular motive behind the killing at the moment.

Marcelo said they would be checking footage of surveillance cameras at the crime scene to get clues on the assailants.

Dionco was on his way to his rooster farm when he was ambushed by the attackers on a motorcycle.

Before his most recent posting, Dionco was a precinct commander under QCPD Station 6.