Shootout leaves 2 men dead

Two suspected thieves who earlier fired upon a couple during a foiled robbery attempt were killed in a shootout with policemen in Taytay, Rizal, shortly after midnight Thursday.

Senior Supt. Rolando Anduyan, Rizal police director, told the Inquirer that Eric Cruz Santos and Terensfel Argabio, 26, died on the spot after they suffered multiple gunshot wounds during a firefight with authorities on Tapayan Road in Barangay (village) San Juan at 12:13 a.m.

According to Anduyan, the pair, which was on a motorcycle with plate number VF-3985, earlier tried to rob Helen Paular, 49, and Feliciano Ceazar, 45, at the boundary of Taytay and Pasig City. Paular and Ceazar, however, escaped unhurt and reported their ordeal to the police.

PO2 Rolando Tolentino, an investigator at the Taytay police station, said that policemen who were on patrol on Tapayan Road who had been alerted about the robbers later spotted the pair and tried to apprehend them. However, they were met with gunfire, resulting in a shootout, Tolentino added.

Seized from the dead men were two .45-cal. pistols. The police said they were still trying to determine if the pair’s motorcycle was a stolen vehicle.—Kristine Felisse Mangunay