LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Four suspected car thieves were killed in what the authorities said was a shootout with policemen manning a checkpoint on the Maharlika Highway diversion road here early Wednesday.
Senior Insp. Valeriano de Leon of the Quezon Province police said three of the still unidentified men died on the spot while the fourth was declared dead on arrival at a hospital.
The four were on a red Toyota Innova without license plates that drove through the checkpoint barrier and signage in Barangay Gulang Gulang around 2:20 a.m. The vehicle was traveling south.
Policemen quickly gave chase, triggering a running gunbattle that ended in a final shootout a kilometer away from the checkpoint, De Leon said.
He said investigators found an Uzi Ingram, three handguns and several vehicle plate numbers from the car of the slain men, thus the suspicion they were car thieves.