Pampanga’s most wanted slain in ‘armed encounter’ with cops

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MABALACAT CITY — The most wanted person in Pampanga province was killed Wednesday during an alleged armed encounter with policemen in Tabun village in this city.

In separate statements, the Central Luzon police and the Pampanga police identified the fatality as Kenneth Flores, the alleged leader of a criminal group engaged in illegal drug activities.

Flores was the primary suspect in the fatal shooting on Dec. 3 last year of Senior Master Sergeant Sofronio Capitle Jr. and Staff Sergeant Dominador Gacusan Jr., both members of the Mabalacat City Police Station Drug Enforcement Unit.

The two policemen were about to board their motorcycle after reportedly conducting an anti-illegal drugs operation, when five bonnet-wearing persons repeatedly shot them along South Daang Bakal Road in Dau village.

The next day, one of the suspects, Kiel Patrick Chua, was killed in an alleged shootout with policemen in Duquit village here. Three other suspects were arrested on Dec. 4.

Flores, the fifth suspect, remained at large and had been the subject of a hunt since Dec. 4, until his death on Wednesday.

Pampanga police officer-in-charge Colonel Levi Hope Basilio said joint operatives from the regional, provincial, and this city’s police units “neutralized” Floreas during an operation at 3:40 a.m. on Wednesday.

Basilio said Floreas was brought to the Mabalacat District Hospital, but a doctor pronounced him dead upon arrival at the emergency room.

He said a .45-caliber pistol and a hand grenade were found near the suspect’s body.

Central Luzon police director Brigadier General Cesar Pasiwen lauded the police officers who conducted intelligence and manhunt operations against Flores. INQ

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