Two suspected car thieves were killed before dawn Friday in a shootout with Manila policemen, who caught them breaking a window and trying to steal items from a parked vehicle.
Recovered from the two slain men, who were tagged as members of the Bahala na Gang based on the tattoos they sported, were two .38-cal. revolvers and a mallet wrapped with packaging tape.
Senior Police Officer 1 Charles John Duran, of the Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section, said the shootout happened around 12 a.m. Friday along President Quirino Avenue in front of the Bureau of Plants Industry in Malate.
Patrol duty
Duran said that before the shootout, members of the MPD Malate Station 9 anticrime unit were on routine patrol duty along Quirino Avenue when they spotted two men breaking the left rear passenger window of a parked 1990 model Toyota Corolla (PRP-174) left unattended by its owner, Gary Aure.
The policemen immediately made a quick U-turn toward the parked vehicle and approached the two men to accost them, but the suspects reportedly shot at them, prompting them to retaliate.
The suspects were killed instantly, sustaining bullet wounds mostly in the head.
The bodies were taken to the St. Yvan funeral parlor for autopsy.
The policemen involved in the shootout were directed to report to the MPD homicide section and surrender their firearms for ballistics examination.
Homicide investigators are conducting a follow-up investigation for the identification of the two slain men.