Suspect in Sta. Cruz massacre killed after allegedly grappling for escort's gun

(Updated 2:15 p.m.) A village watchman who had admitted his role in the massacre of a bank executive, her mother and household helper in Manila's Sta. Cruz district earlier this week was shot by police shortly after noon Thursday. Manila Police District (MPD) homicide section head Chief Inspector Joselito de Ocampo said Nestor Delizalde Jr. had tried to seize the firearm of his police escorts, radio dzBB's Cecilia Villarosa reported. Delizalde earlier admitted to killing bank executive Evelyn Tan, 40; her mother Teresita, 60; and their household helper in their house in Sta. Cruz, Manila early Monday, but insisted he did not mean to kill the victims. Citing initial information reaching him, De Ocampo said police investigators were escorting Delizalde to the scene of the crime when the incident happened. But during the trip, he said, Delizalde tried to grab the firearm of one of his police escorts, prompting another policeman to shoot. Gun-grabbing incidents Delizalde's case is not the first among alleged gun-grabbing incidents involving suspects and their police escorts in the country this year. Four of such incidents have so far been reported by the MPD. In early February, a Chinese-Filipino tagged in the killing of his Chinese girlfriend along Roxas Boulevard in Manila allegedly grabbed the gun of one of his police escorts while being taken to the city prosecutor's office. Gong Zhu Yan (a.k.a. Win Ke and Jacky Yang), 26, supposedly shot himself and died. On March 14, Two pedicab drivers arrested for the brutal rape-slay of a seven-year-old girl in Sta. Mesa, Manila, were shot dead after allegedly trying to grab the service firearm of their police escort. On September 8, a holdup suspect who was supposedly the leader of a robbery group operating along R-10 and Moriones in Tondo, was killed after allegedly grabbing the gun of his police escort while he was being brought in for an inquest. Ruel Comedia, 27, a kuliglig driver, did not make it to the hospital alive. — LBG, GMA News