Bike-riding killers find targets in Manila, QC

Killers on motorbikes struck within a span of a few hours in two separate attacks in Manila and Quezon City.

A man who was collecting payments for a gadget store was shot dead Friday night in Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City.

Police said the lone gunman fled on a Honda XRM motorcycle after shooting Resty Mitra, 47, at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Soliven Street. Mitra worked as a collector for cell phone dealer DC Gadgets.

The victim, who also drove a motorbike, was ambushed after leaving Commonwealth Market around 7:45 p.m. He died on the spot where four 9 mm bullet casings were later recovered.

Case investigator SPO1 Joselito Gagaza said robbery had been ruled out as a motive since Mitra’s two cell phones and his cash collections for the day were not taken by the attacker.

Mitra’s brother Jude said the victim reportedly received a death threat from an unidentified person shortly before the killing. “We learned that someone had told him, ‘hindi ka na makakalabas ng buhay dito (you will not come out alive).’”

In Manila, the blinking headlight of a motorcycle apparently signaled the attack on a  23-year old delivery boy in a basketball court where a party was being held on Favia Street, Tondo, before dawn on Saturday.

SPOI Charles Duran of the Manila Police District said two men on a bike stopped in front of the court and one of them fired at Rodel Ocampo, 23, and his companion Raymond de la Cruz.

Ocampo was later declared dead at Mary Johnston Hospital while De la Cruz sustained a gunshot wound in the stomach.

“While parked, the headlights of the motorcycle blinked several times while pointed at the victims. Ocampo was then shot in the head,” Duran said.

Witnesses tried to chase the gunmen but the latter scared them off by firing shots in the air as they fled, he added. Julie Aurelio, Maricar Brizuela and Nancy C. Carvajal