A POLICEMAN assigned to the Northern Police District was shot dead Tuesday in what investigators said was a “brazen” murder committed by a “very angry” man in Caloocan City.
Police identified the victim as SPO1 Enrie Escalaw, assigned to the Special Operations Unit of the NPD that covers the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela. Initial investigation showed that Escalaw was on his way to a market near the SOU headquarters on Langaray Street to have some pictures developed at around 6 p.m. when attacked.
The market was merely a tricycle away from the NPD headquarters.
“Two men riding a motorcycle waited for him near the market. When Escalaw appeared, he was shot eight times by one of the suspects. He was dead on the spot,” Senior Supt. Wilson Amper, deputy district director for operations, told the Inquirer.
Both the passenger and the driver, still unidentified, immediately fled from the crime scene. When the Inquirer asked who between the two could have shot Escalaw, Amper said that it had not yet been determined.
“When responding officers got to the crime scene, they found the victim bloodied, with his face down on the pavement. The suspect was very angry judging by the number of bullets Escalaw sustained,” Amper said.
The motive for the killing has yet to be established but police said that it was “most probably work-related.”
A check with the Office of the Chief District Directorial Staff showed that Escalaw was an operative of the SOU, which goes after organized crime groups.
Senior Supt. Roberto Villanueva, head of the CDDS, said that as a member of the unit, Escalaw would also be present in joint operations against illegal drug syndicates with operatives of the District Anti-Illegal Drugs unit and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.