2 killed as Nueva Ecija truck theft ends in QC shootout

Five days after hardware shop owner Imelda de Guzman of Zaragosa, Nueva Ecija, reported her missing mini dump truck to the police on Sept. 22, it was found in Payatas, Quezon City, along with drugs in the passenger seat.

She was more shocked to learn, however, that two of the four men who allegedly stole the vehicle—including the driver she hired just a month ago—were killed on Tuesday in a reported shootout with the police.

Dead on the spot were 38-year-old Christopher Aguirre and a still unidentified man. The two other suspects managed to escape, according to the Quezon City Police District (QCPD).

De Guzman said Aguirre, a resident of Cabanatuan City, had been working for her for just a month after he was hired through an agency. “I couldn’t believe it. He was kind and hardworking,” she added.

De Guzman said she had sent Aguirre, together with another worker identified only as “Payat,” to deliver supplies to a nearby town in Nueva Ecija. The pair was carrying P4,000 in cash.

“My sister and neighbors called me and said they saw my truck in the morning news,” De Guzman, who went to Camp Karingal yesterday to identify the slain suspects, told the Inquirer.

The red Isuzu Elf truck (RBA 718) was taken by thieves to a grassy area on Payatas Road, the QCPD said.

A concerned citizen reported the vehicle to authorities, saying it was being sold for only P25,000.

When a QCPD team arrived in the area, the truck was found abandoned but with the door on the driver’s side already off its hinges.

The police left but upon their return, they found four men, two of them removing the truck’s rear tires and the others taking illegal drugs inside the vehicle.

A shootout ensued, leaving two of the suspects dead as the rest escaped. The police said they recovered a 9-mm revolver and a .45-caliber pistol from the suspects as well as four sachets of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) and two sachets of dried marijuana leaves from the passenger seat.

The other slain suspect was not “Payat,” leading the police to speculate that he was one of the suspects who escaped.

Chief Insp. George Calauad Jr., Zaragosa police chief who accompanied De Guzman to Camp Karingal, said Aguirre was not on their drug watch list and did not have a criminal record. -Jhesset O. Enano