Taxi rob suspect shot dead by cops on his birthday

“He would sometimes be gone for several days but he always came back. It was his birthday yesterday,” a tearful Remelyn Borromeo told a Quezon City police official on Wednesday, when she discovered that her live-in partner’s dangerous life had come to a violent end.

She was referring to Jonathan Ragundiaz, who was shot dead by the policemen shortly after he and a cohort allegedly robbed taxi passengers and stole a motorcycle belonging to a village official Tuesday night.

Ragundiaz, an alleged member of the Batang City Jail gang as indicated by his tattoos, was killed on his 31st birthday, according to Borromeo of Tandang Sora Avenue, Barangay Pasong Tamo.

Investigators said they recovered from the body six keys for different vehicles, which the suspect wore on a chain around his neck. Chief Insp. Allan dela Cruz, chief of the Quezon City Police District’s (QCPD) theft and robbery section, said these may be master keys that Ragundiaz used to start a motorbike or a car that he wanted to steal.

Ragundiaz and another man held up three passengers of an FX taxi before taking a parked motorcycle in New Manila, according to the QCPD. His still unidentified cohort escaped after they were chased by lawmen from E. Rodriguez Avenue to the Cubao area, where Ragundiaz was gunned down.

PO3 Jaime De Jesus said the two men, armed with a knife and a pistol, boarded a Cubao-bound UV Express cab driven by Manolo Pandez around 10 p.m. They announced the holdup as the vehicle went past St. Luke’s Medical Center, taking the wallets and mobile phones of passengers April Joy Aguilar, Ricky Nacario and Annalyn Laorio.

They got off at the corner of E. Rodriguez and 12th Street, where they chanced upon a motorbike and used it for their getaway. The QCPD said the bike belonged to Barangay Old Capitol Site councilman Roberto Lim, who had just parked it on the sidewalk to relieve himself.

Lim later alerted a passing mobile police team to the robbery. “The suspects kept weaving in and out of traffic in New Manila but our pursuing team was able to keep up because the victim could identify his motorcycle even at a distance,” said Dela Cruz.

When the policemen caught up with the motorcycle at the corner of Edsa and Aurora Boulevard around 11 p.m., only Ragundiaz was on it. They ordered him to stop but Ragundiaz fired at them. He was killed in the ensuing shootout, Dela Cruz said.

Aside from the keys, recovered from Ragundiaz were a red backpack containing the items stolen from the passengers, a .38-caliber revolver and Lim’s motorcycle.