| Injured | Killed |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1 |
Date: 27 May 2010
Source: PDI 27 May 2010
Home invasion!!! So much for the fetish to disarm civilians.
Kidnap try inside posh village foiled
By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:05:00 05/26/2010
MANILA, Philippines—A gunfight broke out between police operatives and suspected kidnappers Tuesday afternoon in the upscale Valle Verde II subdivision in Pasig City in what the authorities described as a botched kidnapping attempt.
One of the suspects, Rhed Usongco, a resident of Pandacan, Manila, was killed while his companion, Christopher Velasco, 24, of Taguig City, was arrested and taken in the custody of the Police Anti-Crime Emergency Response (Pacer).
Two other suspects on board a motorcycle managed to escape, investigators said.
Chief Supt. Francisco Manalo, director of the Eastern Police District, said the shootout occurred at around 5:40 p.m. along Lanuza Avenue inside the subdivision.
He said the intended victim, a female Valle Verde II resident whose name was withheld, had complained to Pacer about an extortion attempt by the suspects and their threat to abduct her if she failed to come up with the “big amount” they were demanding.
Manalo said this prompted Pacer to set up surveillance at the would-be victim’s residence and to monitor her activities to thwart the kidnapping attempt.
The Pasig police chief, Senior Supt. Jessie Cardona, said the Pacer operatives encountered the suspected kidnappers, who were riding two motorcycles, as they were about to abduct the woman who was at the time on board a Chevrolet Tahoe.
“The suspects were about to draw a gun when the gunfight started,” Cardona said, adding that the shooting lasted at least a minute.
Cardona said they seized from the suspects a .45-caliber pistol and one of their motorcycles, with plate number 7319R. Also recovered at the scene were two empty cartridges of the pistol, and two empty cartridges of an M16 rifle.
The official said the Pasig police were only acting as support to Pacer, which would conduct the primary investigation, although they had also started a manhunt for the remaining two suspects.