Deadly night in QC: Gunmen kill 7

HOUSE ATTACK One of the four people killed by unidentified men inside a house in Old Balara, Quezon City, was playing “video karera,” an arcade game, when he was shot. —RICHARD A. REYES

In just under three hours, unidentified gunmen killed seven people in four shooting incidents in Quezon City, including two men and two women who were attacked inside their house from late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning.

The cases were recorded by the Quezon City Police District as “deaths under investigation” but raised questions whether they were the continuation of the bloody war on drugs that had so far claimed over 7,000 lives under the seven-month-old Duterte administration.

QCPD director, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD director, acknowledged that seven killings in just one night were “unusual” but said there had been similar incidents of such scale in the past.

Eleazar said the homicide division of the QCPD was still investigating whether the deaths were drug-related. “Based on initial information, these are drug users but we still have to verify our information,” he told the Inquirer.

A report to Eleazar said two men on separate motorbikes approached a village outpost in Barangay Commonwealth around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, where Jeffrey Villanueva, 28, and three other barangay public safety officers were on duty.

The gunmen, who both wore helmets and jackets, shot Villanueva several times as his fellow security officers fled in fear.

SPO2 Terixon Galano of the QCPD-Batasan station said a .38-cal revolver with four live rounds were recovered from the victim’s bag.

An hour later, inside a house at Area 5, Barangay Old Balara, three persons were killed on the spot while a fourth victim died at East Avenue Medical Center.

The QCPD identified two of the victims as Donnie Rey Valenzuela, 28; and Julius Asuncion, 28. The other two fatalities recorded only as “Ate” and “Mirachua” at press time.

Supt. Lito Patay, station commander of QCPD-Batasan, said his men could not immediately confirm whether the victims were on the drug watch list, saying the station’s computer was “corrupted.”

“Until now we have not yet fixed our computer,” he said in a text message. “But our investigation is ongoing.”

In Novaliches, two gunmen in a white vehicle shot a man as he was walking along David Street in Barangay San Bartolome around 12:45 a.m. Thursday.

The victim remained unidentified and was described to be around 30 to 35 years old, of medium build, and had several tattoos on his shoulders, chest and back.

Around 2 a.m., also in Novaliches, a driver identified as Marvin Pio, 35, was found dead with bullet wounds in his neck and face along General Luis Street in Barangay Nagkaisang Nayon.

The Inquirer has yet to receive confirmation from the Novaliches police station commander whether Pio’s death was linked to illegal drugs.

Eleazar said the QCPD would double its efforts to  solve the killings as soon as possible.