QC police shoot 2 ‘resto robbers’ dead

Joselito Esquivel —EDWIN BACASMAS

Two men who allegedly robbed a restaurant owner in Quezon City were shot dead by the police on Wednesday night.

The slain men, who remain unidentified at press time, were killed in an encounter with responding officers from the Quezon City Police District’s Kamuning station, who were alerted to the robbery at Famous Kitchen on Scout Tobias, Barangay Laging Handa.

Witnesses said the two men arrived at the restaurant on a motorbike around 8:25 p.m. and declared a holdup, taking the owner’s cash and mobile phone.

As the robbers fled, a service crew member reported the incident to the Kamuning station, which then alerted other units.

Officers patrolling Roces Avenue, near Gate 1 of Amoranto Stadium in Barangay Paligsahan, spotted and flagged down the two suspects, according to the district director, Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel.

But instead of yielding, the two men sped off toward Morato, where they were cornered and shot by motorbike-riding officers from Kamuning.

Focus crimes

Based on QCPD records, 94 robberies, 208 theft incidents, 20 motorcycle thefts, 10 car thefts, 19 murder cases, four homicides, six rapes and 82 assaults resulting in physical injuries were reported in the city from April 25 to June 3.

The 10 QC barangays with the highest incidence of these “focus crimes” are Socorro  (29 cases),  Bagong Pagasa (20), Batasan Hills (18), Holy Spirit (18), Greater Lagro (17), Fairview (13),   Pinyahan (12), E. Rodriguez (11), Payatas (11) and South Triangle (11).

Meanwhile, Equivel dismissed as “fake news” reports that robbers recently struck at Shangri-la Chinese Cuisine restaurant on Times Street and a Starbucks on Banawe Street.