Hired guns' leader killed in Bulacan

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – Police believe they have busted a notorious gun-for-hire gang in Central Luzon after its suspected leader was killed in a shootout in Malolos City, Bulacan Wednesday night.

Chief Superintendent Leon Nilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police director, said the slain suspect, Rommel de Leon, had links with two other criminal gangs – the Dominguez group involved in car thefts and hijackings, and the Apeng Santos group engaged in kidnappings and robbery-holdups.

De Leon, according to De la Cruz, was out to assassinate a former chairman of Barangay Guinhawa in Malolos when he was killed.

The village chief is a witness in a murder case against Raymond Dominguez, tagged as the “car theft king” of Bulacan.

De la Cruz said barangay tanods grew suspicious of a black Honda Civic (with license plate FFW 383) roaming around a subdivision in Barangay Guinhawa and reported this to the Malolos police. The car bore De Leon.

Police responded but De Leon tried to slip away, and a chase ensued. He was cornered on the Malolos flyover in Barangay Guinhawa, where he shot it out with the lawmen.

A caliber .45 pistol was found in the possession of De Leon who police said had been out on bail after his arrest last May.