Chief of Northern Police District’s special ops unit shot dead

MANILA, Philippines—A high-ranking Metro Manila police official was shot dead in Quezon City Friday night shortly after he phoned his wife he was coming home from a meeting but would first shake off someone tailing him, police said Saturday.

Investigators said Chief Inspector Romeo Ricalde Jr., 40, died inside his sports utility vehicle following the shooting on Heizer Street in Barangay Pansol. Ricalde, a Pansol resident, was the chief of the Northern Police District’s Special Operations Unit.

Chief Inspector Rodelio Marcelo, head of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said two men on a motorcycle carried out the assassination. They were believed to be armed with an automatic rifle, based on the 28 spent 5.56-mm cartridges fired from an M-16 automatic rifle that were found on the scene.

Ricalde was driving his maroon Izusu Sportivo on his way home when the attack occurred at 10:30 p.m.

Witnesses told investigators the driver of the motorcycle wore a helmet, while the back rider had a ski mask and wielded an automatic rifle.

According to Marcel, one of the witnesses claimed seeing the assailants  tailing the Sportivo before firing at the vehicle from behind. The assailants sped away after the shooting.

Marcelo said he learned from the victim’s wife, Bernadette, that Ricalde had attended an NPD activity that night.

Ricalde spoke to his wife on the phone to tell her she was coming home and indicated he was being tailed, Marcelo said.

“May ililigaw lang ako (I will just shake off someone),” Ricalde’s wife quoted her husband as telling her, according to Marcelo.

Marcelo said Ricalde used to head NPD’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit before he assumed his last position.

Ricalde’s wife said her husband had been receiving death threats on his cellphone when he was anti-narcotics chief and even after.

Marcelo noted that Ricalde had also removed several policemen from the Special Operations Unit, which, he said, may have earned him the ire of those police officers.