Shootout between cops, Jessie Largo lasted 30 minutes
The house where Jessie Largo has been hiding for the past couple of months is designed for easy escape, according to the police. The Freeman/Iris Mariani B. Algabre
CEBU, Philippines — Monday afternoon’s shootout between the police and alleged notorious hitman Jessie Largo in Talisay City lasted for about 30 minutes, police said.
But Supt. Jason Villamater, chief of Talisay police, clarified that prior to the operation, the police have urged Largo to surrender many times. Such calls, he added, were left unheeded.
Villamater led the operation in cooperation with personnel from the Regional Special Operations Group.
After one of Talisay police operatives was shot and Largo’s refusal to surrender, Villamater gave the greenlight to shoot it out with the suspect.
Largo was killed in the operation. A police officer was also hit in the face but was already out of harm’s way.
For their part, Largo’s family has accepted his death.
"Nakasala man sad gyud akong kuya, dawat na lang gyud namo ang panghitabo,” said Jeson Largo, 22, a younger brother.
Jeson denied that their family knows the whereabouts of Jessie. He said that after Jessie was freed from prison last year, he had been staying with his friends rather than his family.
Jessie was the prime suspect in the August 26 killing of John Ronli Calizar, son of a former newspaper reporter and now a worker of the Philippine Information Agency-7, Ferliza Contratista.
Contratista, in a statement, said it would have been best if Jessie was caught alive.
“True, in our rage, we wanted immediate justice to be served. But as time passed, we realized our problem is just a jagged tip of a submerged issue of crime, government accountability and community involvement,” the statement read.
“We realized Jessie alive has more value than when he is cold and dead. I, as a mother deprived of a son, wanted to see through Jessie's eyes and hopefully piece through a clue in this struggle for a way out of the puzzling world of drugs and organized crime. Now that Jessie is reportedly killed in joint police operations, we can't help but wonder if Jessie's death can bring back our son; or this buries with him the key that unlocks the grip of organized crime reaching deep in the echelons of government,” it added. /JMD
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