LUCENA CITY, Philippines—A murder suspect was killed in an alleged shootout with local policemen in a residential area here Tuesday morning,

Superintendent Pascual Muñoz, Lucena police chief, identified the suspect as Rico Garcia, 35, and resident of Barangay Ibabang Dupay here.

Report said that at around 9:30 a.m., a group of policemen armed with an arrest warrant swooped down on an apartment in Pleasantville Subdivision Barangay Ilayang Iyam after receiving information that the suspect was spotted in the area.

Garcia tried to hide inside the bathroom of one of the apartment units but was cornered by the lawmen, police said.

However, the victim refused to surrender and instead fired at the policemen using a 9 mm pistol.

Inspector Reynaldo Belarmino was hit in his stomach and left thigh which forced the other policemen to return fire, killing the suspect on the spot.

Belarmino was rushed to the Mount Carmel Diocesan General Hospital here for treatment.

Garcia was a suspect in the killing of his own brother last year and an old man aboard a passenger bus at the Lucena Grand Central terminal a few months ago.