A member of the Southern Police District’s (SPD) antidrug unit was shot dead by still unidentified gunmen at a Pasig City motel on Thursday night.
A report reaching Eastern Police District director Chief Supt. Reynaldo Biay said SPO2 Ernesto Sanchez of the SPD’s drug enforcement unit was shot dead inside a white Toyota Fortuner at the Country Lodge motel on Danny Floro Street in Barangay Oranbo around 11:20 p.m.
Also shot and injured was Sanchez’ companion, Josebel Polo, 20, of Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City.
Multiple gunshots
Initial investigation showed that Sanchez and Polo were inside the sport utility vehicle when the armed suspects aboard a black Toyota Revo (XAY-567) arrived.
Police said two men armed with an M16 rifle and a shotgun, alighted from the Revo and disarmed the motel’s security guard.
According to Pasig City Police chief Senior Supt. Orlando Yebra Jr., other suspects then alighted and shot repeatedly at the Fortuner.
There could be four gunmen, Yebra added.
The police chief said Sanchez and Polo sustained multiple gunshot wounds in various parts of their bodies while the unidentified gunmen immediately fled aboard the Revo.
Sanchez was declared dead on the spot by emergency responders while Polo was rushed to the Rizal Medical Center.
Recovered from the crime scene were 14 spent shells and a slug. Investigators also recovered a loaded .45-caliber pistol and a loaded 9mm Berreta pistol inside the Fortuner.
Working on an operation?
In an interview early on Friday, Yebra said the police were looking into the possibility that the two could be working for an operation—Polo being an asset/informant—that’s why they were in the motel, or the two could have a relationship.
“We are still trying to talk to the 20-year-old student but only the mother is answering for her,” Yebra said.
Chief Insp. Jerry Amindalan, head of the SPD-DEU, told the Inquirer that his team had been working the whole day on Thursday and had instructed Sanchez and two others to develop and work for more arrests.
“I think he was there to work on a case,” Amindalan said, although he was not informed of any specific target at that time.