5 crime suspects dead in shootout with cops in Bulacan

CAMP GEN. ALEJO SANTOS, Bulacan, Philippines — Five men suspected to be members of a criminal gang operating in Central Luzon were killed in a shootout with policemen in Marilao town on Sunday, police said.

Senior Supt. Ferdinand Divina, the Bulacan provincial police director, said the suspects have not been identified as of Sunday evening, but police believed that they were involved in car theft and robberies in different provinces in the region.

Divina said the suspects, who were on board a Nissan X-Trail and motorcycle, fired at policemen when they were blocked by members of the police’s Highway Patrol Group manning a checkpoint at the Heritage Subdivision in Barangay Loma de Gato at 2:30 a.m.

He said four suspects died instantly in the exchange of gunfire while the fifth member of the group died while being taken to the Nazarenus Hospital in Meycauayan City.

Police recovered two .45 cal. pistols, an Ingram submachine gun, a 9mm pistol, a grenade and two handcuffs from the slain suspects.