3 suspected car thieves slain in Cavite

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Philippines – Three suspected carjackers were killed in an encounter with police in Cavite before dawn Wednesday, authorities said.

Chief Superintendent Gil Meneses, director of the Calabarzon police, and Senior Superintendent John Bulalacao, Cavite police director, in separate interviews, said the incident started past midnight when the suspects, on board a gray Toyota Vios, with plate number ZBX-561, and two motorcycles, sped past a police checkpoint near the Technological University of the Philippines in Barangay (village) Salitran, Dasmariñas City, prompting police to chase after them, three of who were killed in the ensuing shootout.

Two suspects in the Toyota Vios died on the spot while another suspect riding a motorcycle was declared dead on arrival in a hospital after the firefight with members of Dasmariñas City police and Task Force Limbas, Meneses said.

Meneses said that two others escaped from the authorities. All have yet to be identified, he added.

Aside from the Vios and the motorcycle, with plate number 5992PT, recovered from the crime scene were three caliber .45 pistols, Meneses said, adding that the plate number from the car was originally from a Ford Focus sedan.

He said that police also found the original plate number of the Toyota Vios, ZPK-767, and a blue police camouflage shirt among the personal belongings of the suspects in the car.

The Toyota Vios was reported stolen before dawn on Tuesday by three unidentified suspects in front of McDonald’s in Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City, Meneses said.

The motorcycle recovered from the scene was also reported stolen Tuesday while it was parked at Area F, Dasmarinas City.

Meneses said that police believed that the slain suspects were members of an armed group that robbed a 7/11 convenience store at Barangay Salitran the same day the Toyota Vios and motorcycle were stolen.