MMDA traffic constable gunned down on ‘well-policed’ QC road

An MMDA traffic constable was shot dead at the corner of Commonwealth and Tandang Sora Avenues which was ‘well-policed,’ according to a police official. The crime scene was a stone’s throw away from the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) central chapel in Quezon City. NINO JESUS ORBETA / PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER FILE

A police official said the traffic constable of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) gunned down on Monday was shot dead in a “well-policed,” busy thoroughfare in Quezon City.

Inspector Elmer Monsalve said the killers of Sidney Role, 38, took a lot of risk in murdering the MMDA enforcer at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Tandang Sora Avenue in Barangay Old Balara at 2 a.m.

Monsalve noted that police regularly patrolled the area, which was on a busy thoroughfare.

The busy intersection is a stone’s throw away from the central chapel of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) sect.

Monsalve, chief of the Homicide Section of the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, said the killing of Role might be work-related as the gunman waited for the victim at his post.

Role was shot in the head as he was talking to his brother, Riche, who went to his post to bring his cellphone which he left at home in Cogeo, Antipolo City.

In an interview with the Inquirer hours after the killing, Monsalve said that after shooting the victim, the gunman escaped by boarding a motorcycle driven by a cohort.

After reviewing CCTV footage in the area, Monsalve said initial findings showed that more than two suspects were involved in the killing as they spotted a tricycle driver acting as a lookout.

Minutes before the shooting, a young man with a gun was seen on the CCTV footage walking back and forth in the “well-policed” area, as if waiting for the victim.