4 suspects in QC robbery incidents slain in shootout
Four of eight hold-up suspects, who robbed a convenience store and gasoline station, were killed in a shootout with responding policemen in Quezon City early Tuesday.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Joel Villanueva, chief of Quezon City Police District’s Batasan Police Station (PS-6) said the four slain suspects are yet to be identified while their cohorts who managed to escape are now being hunted.
Prior to the encounter, a police report showed that eight helmet-wearing men, onboard four motorcycles, arrived at a gasoline station along Payatas Road in Barangay Payatas past 2 a.m. and declared the heist.
The group also robbed a convenience store near the gasoline station before escaping with at least R19,000 and two mobile phones.
Meanwhile, PS-6 personnel patrolling near the area were flagged down by the store cashier and the gas station attendant who reported the incident.
Police officers immediately conducted a follow-up operation against the suspects as described by the victims.
At about 2:45 a.m., police said the fleeing robbers were spotted by authorities escaping from a checkpoint along Molave Street corner Payatas Road resulting in a chase.
Upon reaching the corner of San Jose Street and Payatas Road, the suspects suddenly opened fire at the pursuing officers who retaliated, and were able to gun down four of them.
The four robbers died on the spot while their four other companions on board two motorbikes were able to elude arrest.
Recovered from the slain suspects were four caliber .38 revolvers, seven sachets of shabu, a digital weighing scale, and two motorcycles without plate numbers which police said were used by the robbers during the heist.