BACOLOR, Pampanga – Two suspected truck hijackers were killed in a shootout with policemen along the MacArthur highway in this town at about 2 a.m. yesterday, provincial police director Senior Supt. Primitivo Retirado said.
He said that the hijacking was initially reported by truck owner Jojo Padilla to the police in Caloocan City where it was hijacked along 5th Avenue by two armed suspects at about 2:20 p.m. last Sunday.
The Caloocan police then relayed the information on the hijacked truck, a Isuzu with plate No. PRH 552, to other police units in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Retirado said that at about 1 a.m. yesterday, the truck was reported to have entered the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) tollway at Malinta. This prompted the police in Caloocan to alert their counterparts in Bulacan and Pampanga. Initial reports did not say whether the truck was loaded with any cargo.
The truck exited from the NLEX in San Fernando, Pampanga and was cruising through the Olongapo-Gapan road in the city when it was flagged down by alerted local cops, but the vehicle instead swerved towards the MarArthur highway, he said.
Along the MacArthur in Bacolor, the truck rammed through a road block set up by the police as one of the suspects reportedly fired at another team of cops which responded with their arms. The truck halted to a complete stop when it hit a fence nearby.
“The incident resulted in the death of the two suspects,” Retirado said, although it wasn’t clear whether they were shot dead before or after their hijacked truck came to a stop,” he said.
The identities of the suspects were not immediately known.
He said that the hijacking was initially reported by truck owner Jojo Padilla to the police in Caloocan City where it was hijacked along 5th Avenue by two armed suspects at about 2:20 p.m. last Sunday.
The Caloocan police then relayed the information on the hijacked truck, a Isuzu with plate No. PRH 552, to other police units in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Retirado said that at about 1 a.m. yesterday, the truck was reported to have entered the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) tollway at Malinta. This prompted the police in Caloocan to alert their counterparts in Bulacan and Pampanga. Initial reports did not say whether the truck was loaded with any cargo.
The truck exited from the NLEX in San Fernando, Pampanga and was cruising through the Olongapo-Gapan road in the city when it was flagged down by alerted local cops, but the vehicle instead swerved towards the MarArthur highway, he said.
Along the MacArthur in Bacolor, the truck rammed through a road block set up by the police as one of the suspects reportedly fired at another team of cops which responded with their arms. The truck halted to a complete stop when it hit a fence nearby.
“The incident resulted in the death of the two suspects,” Retirado said, although it wasn’t clear whether they were shot dead before or after their hijacked truck came to a stop,” he said.
The identities of the suspects were not immediately known.
