QC police kill 7 in predawn ops

“NANLABAN” Funeral home workers retrieve the bodies of two men killed in an alleged shootout with antidrug policemen on Wednesday morning on Doña Hemady Street, Barangay Kristong Hari, in Quezon City. —JAM STA ROSA

It was a busy Wednesday morning for Quezon City policemen as they killed seven men—four drug suspects and three suspected robbers—in separate operations within a six-hour period.

All of the drug suspects were killed in entrapment operations after they reportedly resisted arrest and fired at the undercover agents they were transacting with.

Two of the dead were identified only as Lito and Bong, according to Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel.

‘Shootout’

A report said that members of the QCPD Special Operations Unit were conducting a drug bust on Doña Hemady Street at Barangay Kristong Hari around 6:40 a.m. when the suspects became suspicious and drew their guns.

A shootout ensued, leaving the two men dead on the spot. Recovered from them were a 9-mm pistol, a  .38-caliber revolver, several sachets of “shabu” or crystal meth and the buybust money used in the operation.

Before that, another shootout occurred between Marjun Clemente and a group of policemen in Sitio San Roque at Barangay Bagong Pag-asa.

Accomplice held

The 29-year-old Clemente, who was the target of a buy-bust operation, suddenly shot PO2 Edison Guillermo in the hand around 3 a.m.

Policemen fired back, hitting Clemente who was declared dead on arrival at a hospital. His alleged accomplice, Nicole Rosales, 19, was arrested.

The police said they recovered from Clemente five sachets of shabu, a .38-caliber revolver, two improvised handguns, drug paraphernalia and the buybust money.

Some 30 minutes earlier, the antinarcotics unit of the La Loma police station led by Supt. Robert Sales shot dead Joel Montallana in an entrapment operation on Samat Street in Barangay Sto. Domingo.

The police said it was Montellana who fired first, prompting them to shoot back. Seized from the suspect was a  .38-caliber pistol.

Cabbie robbed

Around 1 a.m., three unidentified men took the taxi, cell phone and P3,000 in earnings of taxi driver Henry Camarines at the corner of 6th Street and Gilmore Street in Barangay Mariana. The three were killed in a followup operation carried out by policemen from the QCPD Station 9 led by Supt. Rodrigo Soriano.

The policemen were manning a checkpoint on the westbound lane of University Avenue in Barangay San Vicente  when they received a report about the taxi heist.

They later spotted the taxi cab which they flagged down. However, it sped away, leading to a chase and a shootout.

Recovered from the slain suspects were a .45-caliber pistol, a fake gun, bullet shells, two bladed weapons, six sachets of shabu and the stolen taxi cab.