Police couple file charges against attackers

Within days after their release from the hospital, the police couple who figured in a shootout with motorcycle-riding men in Manila finally filed criminal charges against their attackers. In an interview, Senior Police Officer 1 Jerome Jalla told the Inquirer that he and his wife, SPO1 Julie, lodged charges of frustrated homicide against the three alleged members of the notorious robbery group Uzi Gang who opened fire on their car on December 3 in Sta. Cruz, Manila. The Jallas, both assigned to the Northern Police District, were on their way home when a motorcycle bearing three men abruptly stopped in front of them at the corner of Pampanga and M. Natividad streets. According to a police report, the couple became suspicious because the men seemed hesitant to pass through a checkpoint set up by the police several meters away. When Jerome confronted the men and introduced himself as a policeman, two of the three men suddenly pulled out firearms—an Uzi submachine gun and a pistol—and fired at him. He managed to return to his car to get his handgun while Julie took out her service firearm. The armed men strafed the couple’s vehicle, however, hitting Jerome in the right forearm and his wife in the left. The couple fired back despite their injuries, but their attackers escaped. “[We filed the charges] so that these people can be put behind bars. They might harm other people again,” Jerome told the Inquirer. He said that the complaint was filed last week with the Manila City Prosecutor’s Office.—Kristine Felisse Mangunay