Two men and a woman were shot to death yesterday morning by six motorcycle-riding armed men while on board a pickup truck allegedly registered to a drug suspect in Caloocan City.
Senior Supt. Johnson Almazan, Caloocan Police chief, said they were trying to establish the identities of the victims.
Investigation showed that three victims were aboard a red pickup truck bearing plate number NUI 501 travelling along Pili Street in Barangay 178, Camarin, at about 3 a.m. when about six gunmen believed to be members of a vigilante group peppered them with bullets.
A security guard, who witnessed the incident, told probers that motorcycle-riding men appeared from nowhere and fired shots at the pickup truck.
Police retrieved from the crime scene 21 spent shells of .45-caliber pistol and nine spent shells of .9mm pistol.
Investigators said the victims died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.
Almazan said based on the insurance paper found inside the vehicle, the pickup truck was registered to a certain Joey Susano.
The police chief said the surname Susano was in their drug list, adding that the suspect has gone into hiding.
“I can recall that we have a guy in our watchlist wherein his surname was only identified. The surname’s Susano. He’s being tagged as a drug peddler,” Almazan said.
“Our intelligence report said that Susano went into hiding when President Duterte assumed office, and when the PNP intensified the drug operations,” he added.
Northern Police District (NPD) director Senior Supt. Roberto Fajardo recently ordered Caloocan Police to conduct a probe on the killings perpetrated by motorcycle-riding gunmen.
Fajardo said vigilante killings are already “very alarming for the safety of the public.” (JEL SANTOS)