Bloody end to 2-hour police chase

MAGSAYSAY, Davao del Sur―For more than two hours, Senior Insp. Ricky Boy Remoroza and his men chased Vicky Calago, a suspected drug pusher, through rice fields in a village of scattered huts on Wednesday.

The pursuit ended in a shoot-out with the male suspect and his companions in a house where they had holed up.

Remoroza, municipal police chief, was hit in the chest and stomach by bullets fired from a .38 cal. revolver. Calago, 38, was killed.

The lawmen arrived at Calago’s house around 8 a.m. to serve a warrant of arrest on charges of selling drugs. The suspect and his companions managed to flee, sprinting through fields and taking shelter from one hut to another.

As Remoroza and his men entered the last house, they were met by bursts of gunfire. A shoot-out ensued.

Investigators found from Calago’s body two sachets of white powder believed to be “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and a revolver.

Senior Supt. Samuel Gadingan, provincial police chief, arrived at the scene and told his policemen to take extra care in arresting armed suspects. Orlando B. Dinoy, Inquirer Mindanao