Four people, including a policeman facing criminal charges, were killed when a drinking session turned into a gunfight late Tuesday night in Caloocan City.
The police identified the dead as Manolito Piccio, 56; his sons Erickson, 37, and Audie, 32; and the alleged attacker, PO3 Ernesto Castillo.
The incident happened shortly before midnight when the three Piccios and a teenager were having a drink at the corner of Rose and King Solomon streets in Barangay 174, Camarin, Caloocan City. Castillo, along with a companion who remained unidentified, then approached and fired at the group.
Initial media reports traced the incident to a feud between families, an angle still being checked by the police at press time.
The elder Piccio died of multiple gunshot wounds on the spot, while Audie and Erickson were pronounced dead at Bernardino Hospital and Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, respectively.
The teenager, who was wounded in the leg, told police that Audie was able to wrest the gun off Castillo’s hands and shoot the officer, killing him.
Police recovered the 9-mm Beretta pistol used by Castillo, which was later found to be the same firearm issued to the late SPO3 Tom Perez, who was killed on Sept. 4 last year while in pursuit of two crime suspects in Barangay Bagong Silang also in Caloocan.
It turned out that Castillo was one of those two suspects, his name cropping up when his alleged cohort was later arrested. The two men were then charged for killing Perez and for taking his firearm and other belongings.
Castillo’s companion in Tuesday’s attack remained at large.
Also recovered from the scene were two hand grenades, a magazine with seven live rounds for a .45-cal. pistol, five spent shells for a 12-gauge shotgun, 18 more bullets from a gun of still unknown caliber, a sumpak or improvised shotgun, a steel bar and two arrows.