Gun in QC cop’s slay used in other killings

MANILA, Philippines–The gun recovered from one of the suspects in the killing of a Novaliches police official last month was confirmed to have been used in other shooting incidents that left three people dead in Quezon City earlier this year.

Novaliches police operations head Chief Insp. Roderick Medrano died in an ambush on Sept. 1 as he and his wife were bringing their two sons to school.

Two days later, authorities arrested four men believed to be his killers: market workers Clemente Bersoza, 49; Larry Consolacion, 42; Joean Marco, 41; and Rodener Necesito, 39.

The police, however, said the gun recovered from Marco, a Negros Oriental native and a resident of Steve Street in Barangay (village) Commonwealth, was also used to kill three other people.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) earlier submitted test cartridge cases fired from the gun—a .45-cal. Armscor pistol with serial number 1185468—to the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory.

Based on the results of the test conducted by the Firearms Investigation Division, the cartridge cases from Marco’s gun matched those recovered from three crime scenes.

According to Chief Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, head of the QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, the same gun was used in the killing of Barangay Commonwealth resident Conrado Ongjoco on Feb. 25; Aurora Lumahan on May 4; and Barangay Holy Spirit resident Dolores Bucho on June 8.

“The finding of the Crime Laboratory will be used as scientific evidence for filing appropriate charges against [Marco],” Marcelo said.

The four suspects in the Medrano slay were identified by witnesses, through footage taken by security cameras and by tracing the getaway vehicles used—a motorcycle and an Asian utility vehicle.

Following their arrest, then QCPD director Chief Supt. Richard Albano revealed that the suspects had all been implicated in previous killings in Quezon City, particularly in the Commonwealth Market area and areas under the jurisdiction of the QCPD Station 6 based in Barangay Batasan Hills.

Among their victims were Barangay Commonwealth Kagawad Roberto Maraño, who was shot dead on June 15, 2012, in Payatas; Insp. Rodelio Dionco of the Libis police on June 8; and Novaliches policeman SPO1 Miguel Gayagoy Jr. on Jan. 12, Albano said.

Medrano was driving his wife and two children to school when armed men opened fire on the family’s vehicle at the intersection of San Diego and Zabarte streets in Novaliches, Quezon City, killing him.