A ranking police officer was shot dead while driving in Quezon City Friday night, shortly after telling his wife on the phone that he was being followed by gunmen.
“There’s someone I have to shake off (May ililigaw lang ako),” Chief Insp. Romeo Ricalde Jr. told his wife, before two motorcycle-riding men moved in for the ambush on Heizer Street, Barangay Pansol, according to the Quezon City Police District.
Ricalde, 40, a resident of the barangay, was the chief of the Northern Police District’s Special Operations Unit (SOU).
Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said he learned from the victim’s widow Bernadette that Ricalde was on his way home that night after attending an NPD activity.
Ricalde was also the former chief of the NPD’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit before heading SOU.
The widow recalled that her husband had been receiving death threats on his phone since he took over the antidrug unit.
Marcelo also noted that Ricalde had ordered the removal of several policemen from SOU.
Witnesses said the two assailants tailed Ricaldo as he was driving his maroon Izusu Sportivo (NLI-902) around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, before firing from behind the vehicle.
The one who was driving the motorcycle wore a helmet, while the back rider wore a bonnet and carried what appeared to be an automatic rifle.
At least 28 fired cartridges of 5.56-mm rounds were recovered from the crime scene.