5 suspected car thieves killed in Quezon City shootout

Published October 9, 2015 10:14am

Drone video by Raffy Tima

(Updated 1:39 p.m.) Five suspected car thieves were killed following a shootout with policemen in Quezon City on Friday morning, radio and TV reports said.

The exchange of gunfire happened along Payatas Road, radio dzBB's Allan Gatus said in a tweet.

FLASH: 5, patay sa engkuwentro ng QCPD at mga hinihinalang carnapper sa Payatas Road, Quezon City. | via @allangatus
— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) October 9, 2015

In a separate tweet, GMA News reporter Ian Cruz said all the fatalities were suspected carnappers.

^{Photo by Ian Cruz}

Chief Superintendent Richard Ang, head of the police anti-carnapping unit in Quezon City, told radio dzBB in an interview: "Yung taxi, reported forcibly taken sa area ng Station 7, then spotted namin dito sa Litex."

Meanwhile, GMA News reporter Raffy Tima said part of Payatas Road was closed to traffic as personnel from the police force's Scene of the Crime Operations proceeded to the scene.

Part of Payatas road in QC closed to traffic as SOCO processes a shoot-out crime scene bet police & carnappers. pic.twitter.com/CRso81mGfF
— Raffy Tima (@raffytima) October 9, 2015

According to a report on News TV Live, the 58-year-old taxi driver picked up three passengers in a bus terminal in EDSA Kamuning past 4 a.m. The passengers reportedly requested to be taken to the Xavierville area in Quezon City.

However, upon reaching Kalayaan Avenue, the driver was held at gunpoint, restrained with packaging tape, and forcibly moved to the backseat, the report said.

The driver estimated that it was around 6 a.m. when he was left in Project 6. He then reported the incident to the police, and the Quezon City Anti-carnapping Unit was alerted at 6:55 a.m.

The stolen taxi unit was spotted by the dispatched officers on Litex road at 9 a.m., with a black SUV following behind it.

Once the police unit closed in on the scene, two of the suspects attempted to jump out of the taxi into the SUV, triggering the shootout.

A separate report on Balitanghali said the police maintained the shootout was a legitimate operation. None of the operatives had been injured in the incident. —Rose-An Jessica Dioquino and Jessica Bartolome/RSJ/KBK, GMA News

Tags: shootout, carnapping, carjacking