Smarting from criticisms over a seemingly unstoppable spate of crimes in the city, Quezon City police shot and killed two of three men who allegedly robbed a hamburger joint at dawn Thursday.
Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo, QCPD station 4 commander, said the suspects held up a Burger Machine outlet in Barangay (village) Gulod, Novaliches.
At gunpoint, they told the attendant, Iryn Ratilla, to hand over the money in the cash register. Ratilla said she handed P250 to the suspects.
Just as the suspects had fled on foot, a police patrol crew came and saw Ratilla crying. When asked, Ratilla told them about the holdup.
The policemen gave chase and caught up with the suspects not far from the hamburger joint and about to ride in a motorcycle. When they saw the approaching lawmen, they opened fire, Pedrozo said.
The lawmen returned fire and hit two of the suspects, who remained unidentified as of presstime. The third suspect escaped.
Pedrozo said they also recovered from the suspects three revolvers believed to have been used in the holdup.
The two slain suspects bore “Bahala na Gang” tattoos on various parts of their bodies and estimated to be between the age of 20 and 25.
Noontime holdup
Meanwhile, police arrested on Thursday a man who allegedly held up at knifepoint a man eating at a fast-food chain in Marikina City.
Alexander Lumantao, 21, of SSS Village, was having his lunch when the suspect, identified as Michael Flores, 27, of Antipolo City, walked inside and approached him.
Police said Flores talked briefly to Lumantao, then took out a knife and poked it to the latter and declared a holdup.
He then took Lumantao’s cell phone and fled outside. But Lumantao ran after him while shouting for help.
Bystanders gave chase and cornered Flores.—With report by Kristine Felisse Mangunay