ANGELES CITY – The element of surprise and a premature visit to jailed cohorts led to the arrest of two and the identification of a married couple as suspects in a series of holdups of tourism establishments and a gas station, as well as the killing last Saturday of a 17-year-old boy here.
Chief Inspector Luisito Tan, head of police station 4 here, said that one of the suspects named Wilhelm Flores, 36, was identified as the one who shot dead Nico Gozun, 17, in Barangay Pampang here the other Saturday.
Tan said Flores shot Gozun after their motorcycles almost collided. “The victim apparently saw Flores with gun. Gozun dared Flores to shoot him and so he was really shot,” he added.
The other jailed suspect was identified as Elvin Valente, 35, and other still at large suspects were named Angelito Geronimo and his wife Evelyn.
Tan said the four were pinpointed by witnesses as the ones who staged a series of holdups of local establishments, including the Sierra Madre, Opera and Asian hotels, the Roman Massage Clinic, Coffee Outlet restaurant, and a Caltex station.
He said Flores and Valente were arrested at about 3:30 a.m. last Wednesday when they, while on board a blue Honda Wave motorcycle, were taken aback by a police patrol car at the corner of a street at Dona Josefa subdivision here.
“They attempted to make a sharp turn but their motorcycle fell on them, alerting the cops on patrol who also saw a .45 calibre drop from the waist of Flores,” Tan said.
He noted that the same caliber was used to shoot Flores’s alleged victim last Saturday in Pampang.
Only after a few minutes after Flores and Valente were jailed at police station 4, the Geronimo couple arrived to visit them.
“I thought it was suspicious that they immediately learned about the arrest so I asked for some identification. I also asked my men to take pictures of them secretly using a digital camera,” Tan said.
After the couple left, a personnel from the victimized Caltex station arrived and positively identified the Geronimos as among the four holduppers who had carted off with cash from his station. The suspects are now being hunted.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan commended Tan for the arrests and the identification of the Geronimo couple.
Chief Inspector Luisito Tan, head of police station 4 here, said that one of the suspects named Wilhelm Flores, 36, was identified as the one who shot dead Nico Gozun, 17, in Barangay Pampang here the other Saturday.
Tan said Flores shot Gozun after their motorcycles almost collided. “The victim apparently saw Flores with gun. Gozun dared Flores to shoot him and so he was really shot,” he added.
The other jailed suspect was identified as Elvin Valente, 35, and other still at large suspects were named Angelito Geronimo and his wife Evelyn.
Tan said the four were pinpointed by witnesses as the ones who staged a series of holdups of local establishments, including the Sierra Madre, Opera and Asian hotels, the Roman Massage Clinic, Coffee Outlet restaurant, and a Caltex station.
He said Flores and Valente were arrested at about 3:30 a.m. last Wednesday when they, while on board a blue Honda Wave motorcycle, were taken aback by a police patrol car at the corner of a street at Dona Josefa subdivision here.
“They attempted to make a sharp turn but their motorcycle fell on them, alerting the cops on patrol who also saw a .45 calibre drop from the waist of Flores,” Tan said.
He noted that the same caliber was used to shoot Flores’s alleged victim last Saturday in Pampang.
Only after a few minutes after Flores and Valente were jailed at police station 4, the Geronimo couple arrived to visit them.
“I thought it was suspicious that they immediately learned about the arrest so I asked for some identification. I also asked my men to take pictures of them secretly using a digital camera,” Tan said.
After the couple left, a personnel from the victimized Caltex station arrived and positively identified the Geronimos as among the four holduppers who had carted off with cash from his station. The suspects are now being hunted.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan commended Tan for the arrests and the identification of the Geronimo couple.
