Photo by Jodee Agoncillo
Published: 3: 15 p.m., Aug. 21, 2017 | Updated: 1:28 a.m., Aug. 22, 2017
A retired policeman who had headed the anti-illegal drug teams of the San Juan and Mandaluyong police was killed along with his son by still unidentified gunmen in Mandaluyong City on Monday morning.
Authorities said they were eyeing revenge in the killing of Chief Insp. Hoover Pascual, 56, former head of the San Juan police’s Station Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit (SAID), who retired from the service in September 2016.
“He arrested and encountered so many drug suspects. That could be an angle,” Senior Supt. Joaquin Alva, Mandaluyong police chief, told the Inquirer.
Killed along with Pascual was his son, Bryan Henrick Pascual, 33, a businessman.
A report submitted to Alva said that Pascual was driving his Mercedes Benz together with Bryan and the latter’s girlfriend when armed men in a white van shot them.
The shooting happened on Primo Street in Barangay Hulo around 1 a.m. on Monday.
Van blocks victims’ car
Alva said the three had just come from Pascual’s house on Coronado Street when their vehicle was blocked by the van.
Chief Insp. Norman dela Rosa, head of Mandaluyong City police station’s investigation division, said that one of the suspects alighted and might have fired at the driver’s side before moving to the passenger’s side where Bryan was seated.
“These are assumptions as there were no willing witnesses to speak about the incident,” he added.
Pascual and Bryan suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the body, arms and head although the latter sustained more serious injuries.
Their companion, who was seated at the back, immediately took Bryan to a hospital while Pascual’s other son, Hoover Jr., brought his father to another hospital after rushing to the scene. Both victims later died of their injuries.
Pascual was assigned at the Eastern Police District in 2001, according to personnel records. His last assignment was chief of San Juan City police’s SAID.
Victim not new to controversy
Pascual landed in the news in 2015 after he nearly shot it out with Manila policemen who tried to seek the release of two women arrested for drugs by his team.
The policemen from the Quiapo area claimed the suspects were their assets but Pascual refused to release them. A shootout almost erupted but other lawmen and the San Juan SWAT team stepped in.
In January 2009, Pascual’s older brother, SPO4 Nestor Pascual, was shot dead by a man who remains at large. At that time, Nestor had just attended a hearing for a murder case he was facing at the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court. JE / JPV /atm